


Worlds Collide

by the_albatross



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Drinking, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Magic, Magical Boys, Magical Girls, Polyamory, Sexual Harassment, Smoking, Superpowers, Throuple, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-03-07 08:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 41,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18869257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_albatross/pseuds/the_albatross
Summary: Is it more comforting to think we are alone in the universe or to know we are not? Whatever your preference is, there are many who don't have the luxury to think that way.In the universe known as RDR-AQ, the reality that multiple worlds exist is undeniable but luckily the inhabitants have been given a way to fight back against the invaders that manage to find a way into their world; superpowered citizens. Usually of the teenaged type because after all, who could be more responsible with near unlimited power than an hormonal, confused teen?This story will contain multiple chapters focusing on one pairing or throuple at a time. At the moment there are six chapters and a prologue planned including, Ravjila, Shalaska, Witney, Biadore, Jinkx x Dela, and Pearlet. And a special thanks to Citrus for coming up with the title!





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to skip the prologue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify the ages for these characters, here are all the queens that are used in the chapters posted so far, as well as future chapters:  
> 19 - Bianca and Raja  
> 18 - Courtney, Sharon, Manila, Raven, Dela, Shangela, Alyssa and Katya  
> 17 - Willam, Alaska and Jinkx   
> 16 - Adore, Laganja, Pearl, Violet, and Trixie 
> 
> More queens' ages will be supplied if they get written as well

Is it more comforting to think we are alone in the universe or to know we are not?

Whatever your preference is, there are many who don't have the luxury to think that way.

In the world of RDR-AQ the reality that multiple worlds exist is one that is undeniable. But perhaps it's best to start with a few basic facts. Think of an orange...multiple segments surrounding a central core. This is probably the closest example one can use to describe the orientation of worlds; each dimension exists as its own segment but all are connected to one another through a common center. So much so that traveling can be done between these worlds using that logic. However there are other instances in which worlds become connected but that's getting a little ahead of ourselves again.

Let's focus on the segments for a moment; each one is known to contain an entirely unique world. Though there might be similarities between worlds, you'll never find two that are exactly the same. There are always differences, great or small, that are present when you care enough to look. It is thought that every possibility that could ever have happened, will happen, or might happen exists as it's own world. Its impossible to prove one way or another but that was the popular thought in RDR-AQ. Now whether you want to believe that all these realities already exist somewhere or will be created as time continues to flow is another matter of personal preference. Either way, the knowledge that multiple realities and worlds exist is an essential fact of life in this and most other worlds.

Now as mentioned earlier, travel between these worlds can be done. It's quite common among certain people. Some actually make it their life's mission to explore other realms and record what they experience. A few have even brought back souvenirs which eventually led to open trading between many dimensions. Whether this affects the number of realities that exists no one can say for certain and few care to even think about it. But aside from these known instances of intentional connection between worlds; there exists another possibility, that of accidental linkage.

It happens far more often than what is noticed. Sometimes it's brief, once and done. Other times it's fluctuating, reliant on certain factors to be present for the portal to be opened and then promptly disappearing as the conditions change. And unfortunately, there are more than a few cases where the connection is permanent, at least until someone intervenes.

For whatever reason RDR-AQ has more than their fair share of these types of portals opening. Usually what comes through the gateway is relatively harmless, perhaps a piece of paper or a foreign species of plant. But there are a number of occasions where the intruder is not so benign. In fact some of them are rather dangerous, threatening to destroy the landscape whether intentionally or not, or even causing death to the world's inhabitants.

Luckily this world was given a way to fight back; an unusual trait that existed in its citizens that enabled some of them to become granted with superhuman gifts that allowed them to actively repel and force back the unwanted invaders from their world. Some might call this 'magic' but to the people of this world, it was just another undeniable fact of life. Truth be told, no one quite knew how it all worked. Many try to research it but to date no one has come up with a satisfying answer as to why some individuals develop these powers while others don't. Certainly in some families it seemed to be more common, but just as easily these traits might disappear from one generation to next...or even several at a time! There seemed to be almost no rhyme or reason behind it. But that was a problem for the researchers and theorists to unravel.

For those that were 'lucky' enough to be granted powers, they are presented with a choice; they can choose to help defend their world or not. Most chose the former option for whatever reason they might have and once that decision has been made, they are then shipped off to a unique type of boarding school to help hone their powers. Now more often than not, powers begin to appear during the teenaged years, because after all, who should be trusted with near unlimited power and almost no chance for restraint? Moody, impulsive teenagers of course! Makes perfect sense.

A number of these schools exist around the world, they are actually surprisingly frequent but usually they tend to be established near known hot spots where portals are likely to appear. This allows for the opportunity to study portals up close and to mitigate potential disaster by being ready and on scene as whatever is traveling between worlds makes its presence known. Now most of the students do not engage in fighting, at least not right away. In the case of the campus run by the headmistress RuPaul, it is considered a high honor to be chosen to accompany one of the teachers or reserve staff on their mission to close a portal. Typically those that are allowed to assist have been living at the school for at least three years and have been sponsored by a member of the staff as showing exceptional potential and minimal likelihood to hinder the team while completing their assignment. But that is another topic for another day.

All of the students that attend this school live on the campus year round. Mandatory classes are held in the morning and early afternoon while electives and clubs are for later in the day or even at night. Every student must attend the staple classes as RuPaul is a firm believer in a strong education and even being gifted with amazing powers is no excuse not to be knowledgeable of other topics as well. Most of these classes are fairly ordinary; math and history lessons, language courses and the various sciences. A few however are only found at her school; portal studies and self-defense, inter-dimensional politics and culture examinations...just in case travel to another world might be unavoidable. But aside from all that the campus life was pretty unremarkable; attend classes until mid afternoon, participate in electives or clubs if you've chosen to do so and then the rest of the time is the students' to do so as they please. They can hang out, travel to surrounding towns, train if they so desire but there were very few rules aside from of course not destroying school property and staying out of trouble in and off campus.

In an effort to prevent some of the trouble that might arise with hundreds of super-powered teenaged students living in close proximity, boys and girls were given living quarters on opposite ends of the school grounds and a strict curfew was established regarding visiting hours...shame that Miss RuPaul failed to notice that a high number of the female students had little to no interest in the boys...or perhaps she simply turned a blind eye to it.

Once a new student has been enrolled it is then necessary to decide where they will live. In the spirit of fostering friendships as well as an attempt to keep the dorms organized, new students are paired to live with older students that have similar powers. The thought behind this was that a mentoring relationship would develop but more often than not no such additional training ever took place. They were teenagers after all and far more interested in having a good time than honing their skills together. RuPaul just considered herself lucky that she was rarely called in to play mediator unless some student squabbling got well out of hand.

As for the powers themselves, usually they are grouped into two categories; the elementals and the others. Very basic terms but the most encompassing. Elemental powers are pretty self-explanatory; the student can manipulate one of the elements found in nature, such as fire and water, lightning or earth and so on. The "others" are a bit harder to categorize. Essentially it includes any power that cannot be considered a basic element, be it the ability to heal others, to teleport, shape-shift or invade other's minds.

A disproportionate amount of gifted beings held elemental powers but the sheer diversity within the "others" easily made up for their decreased numbers. However, figuring out to train such students with more passive powers has led to a bit of a challenge for the headmistress but while she continues to tweak her curriculum the student body is more than content to leave things as they are. Predictability is something many of the students have come to rely on and find comfort in. But when that changes, tempers can flare and arguments will arise because as most people know in this world; very little is more dangerous than an emotionally charged super-powered teen.


	2. Ravjila

"Rave!"

The girl in question almost turned around at the call of her name but her mostly justified rage compelled her to keep storming off in the direction of her dormitory. However, given that the person trying to catch up to her was someone she had more than a bit of a soft spot for, Raven conceded to slow her pace to a brisk walk rather than a high-speed parade of fury.

"Raven, come on!" Raja yelled out again as she practically jogged to overtake Raven's head start down the sidewalk. "Wait up!"

The brunette could feel her eyes rolling hard as she came to very begrudging halt just a few yards ahead of her friend. Finally catching up with her, Raja took in a few deep gasps to catch her breath before trying to calm Raven's admittedly understandable anger, "It was just an accident. You were all trying to help and-"

"Yeah, I was there," Raven spat back as she resumed the journey back to her dorm.

The root cause of her annoyance today had stemmed from the combined efforts of three people to extinguish a small fire that had broken out on the lawn just behind the gymnasium. Both Raven and Sharon responded quickly; Raven smothering the fire with a loose patch of dirt and Sharon requisitioning the contents of several passerbys' water bottles to douse the same area just in case. There was no communication between them prior to each using their unique powers; only two, semi-responsible students reacting to a minor hazard in the manner that was most logical for them.

The ordeal would have been over within a minute had not another student unexpectedly intervened...enter one Manila Luzon.

The bubbly and energetic young girl was one of the newest students admitted to the school that year and as was natural; she was still quite unfamiliar with her own power. In an attempt, albeit a few seconds delayed, to help control the flame, Manila forced an almost gale-strength blast of wind to blow over the exact area that Sharon and Raven were focused on. All would have been fine had not their own successful attempts created a sizeable patch of mud...one that promptly went flying as soon as Manila's barely controlled gust swept across it.

Almost as if it were the universe saying 'Fuck you' in response to Raven's attempt at performing a good deed, the mud and standing water splashed very thoroughly across her hair, makeup and clothes. Raja had witnessed part of the scene playing out and immediately rushed in to mediate between her best friends but nothing could dissuade Raven's anger. A scowl like none she had ever worn before grew across her face as she glared at the younger student and turned heel to stalk back to her dorm room.

"She didn't do it on purpose," Raja insisted as she followed closely behind the incredibly annoyed young woman.

Despite the huffing of her voice, Raven was forced to concede, "I know."

All the same, it didn't change the fact that she was irritated beyond belief. As the pair continued down the sidewalk, Raven took the opportunity to try and relieve herself of some of the mess. Focusing her attention on the one element she was able to control, Raven willed the dripping earth to leave her hair and clothes as it collected itself into a contained ball floating just above her head. Once she felt sure that most, if not all of the mud had been removed, Raven sent the excess dirt flying off in some random direction and well out of her sight. It was a shame there was nothing she could do to dry her soaked clothes.

The pair walked silently along the tree and flower lined path until Raja felt the urge to try and re-initiate the conversation once again. With a sincere smile, she offered up, "You did a good job putting out the fire...Any idea what started it?"

Barely able to control the snark her voice, Raven spat back, "No fucking clue."

Having enough of walking around in the growing heat while damp clothes remained clinging to her body, Raven opted to at least relieve herself of one of the articles. It was one of the many days she was thankful that she had decided to wear a camisole beneath her cute but oppressing top. Though Raven had a fondness for good clothes, they weren't always the most comfortable to wear, and right now the tight shirt with a constricting 3/4 sleeve was too much for her to deal with after having been doused with water and mud.

As she stripped off the wet fabric, she heard a low wolf-whistle emanating from the girl beside her. Practically licking her lips, Raja carefully lifted her body into the air with the aid of a gentle and well controlled wind until she was hovering just a head's height above Raven. Not even attempting to conceal her gaze, Raja's eyes raked appreciatively over the welcomed view...at least until her line of sight connected with Raven's. The young woman's glare was more than enough to startle Raja, especially considering it was one of the very few times when it was directed specifically at her.

Despite a light flush of embarrassment filling her cheeks, Raja defended herself halfheartedly, "C'mon, it was just a joke. You know I like looking at pretty things."

"Why don't you go eye-fuck Manila then?" Raven challenged with an unusually venomous overtone in her voice as she picked up speed and rushed past Raja's still floating body.

Though Raja typically preferred to stay neutral in most situations, it would be a mistake to call her oblivious. She was actually quite in-tune with other's emotional states even if she typically recused herself from becoming involved. And right now it was painfully obvious to her that something was wrong with her best friend...and had been for awhile now.

She remained floating in stunned silence for a few seconds before willing the wind to push her body fast enough to overtake the almost sprinting brunette. Setting her feet firmly on the ground in front of the irate young woman, Raja's hands came to rest on Raven's upper arms to prevent her from running off again. In a gentle, encouraging voice, Raja probed, "Rave...Hey, talk to me...What's going on?"

"It's nothing," the brunette shot back defensively.

"No, it's not," Raja insisted with a shake of her head. Carefully tilting Raven's chin up, she asked softly, "Why have you been so upset lately?"

Raven's eyes darted away in embarrassment and annoyance. She never was one to openly talk about her feelings though she felt subject to them far more than what she thought should be necessary. In truth, she seemed to be living in a perpetual state of irritation over the last few months and all of it originated from the appearance of one person.

It was well known that a person's powers could begin to manifest at any time, often unexpectedly. As a result RuPaul's school was open year-round with newly enrolled students joining the campus twice a year. During the last batch of newcomers, Manila Luzon had arrived and was promptly assigned to share a room with another more experienced student who had powers similar to her own; Raja, of course.

Raja and Raven had known each other for quite awhile by that point so it hardly made an impression on the younger woman that Raja was given a new roommate; it was to be expected at some point. What she quickly found out was that she didn't care for how taken Raja had become with her new friend. Almost immediately Raja began to include Manila in damn near everything she did, especially if it included Raven. At first Raven tolerated it with a friendly, though admittedly cold smile. She honestly thought Raja was just trying to set a good older sister-type of example and would leave Manila to her own devices once she began making friends in her own classes.

Well, no such luck.

Manila became a permanent fixture in the now threesome, whether Raven liked it or not. While previously Raven needed very little effort to draw Raja's attention to her, the presence of new and rather attractive young woman, constantly caught Raja's gaze until Raven couldn't stave off the feeling that Raja was beginning have eyes only for the youngest of their group...at least in the one sense that mattered the most to her.

And now that very same object of her affections was beginning to tread very close to forcing that unsettling truth out of her. Raven had known about her feelings for the taller girl for long time now, even came to terms with it as it reached the point where it was one of the unchangeable facts of her life. But once something threatened to upset the delicate balance she had created for herself, an unpleasant side of her personality swiftly appeared; that of a jealous, short-tempered mess. She would deny that aspect of herself to the very end but it still didn't alter that fact that she almost immediately became annoyed with any mention of the other girl, particularly if that mention fell from Raja's lips.

The most she felt she could confess to safely at this point was a reluctant, "I don't like feeling like I'm a third wheel."

A look of shock and sympathy instantly spread across Raja's face as she affirmed, "You could never be..."

Very patiently, she convinced Raven to guide her gaze back to hers as she continued to speak on, "You know I don't have favorites between you two and Manila...she really likes you."

Raven scoffed at the suggestion, rolling her eyes so hard it almost hurt. Despite the disbelief, Raja firmly asserted, "She does! She's always trying to impress you."

"Funny way of going about it," Raven spat out bitterly as a sudden chill traveled up her spine.

Always trying to be the voice of reason, Raja carefully reminded her, "She's still coming into her powers; no one's great with them right off the bat. It takes time-"

"And what about everything else?" Raven demanded in a huff.

"I love both of you..." Raja replied in a stressed tone. Her brow was beginning to crease with worry and just the sight of that caused Raven's stomach to turn in a very unpleasant manner. Her deep rooted shame seemed to double as the older woman pressed their foreheads together and pleaded softly, "Please don't make me choose between my two best friends."

A reluctant sigh fell from Raven's lips and against her will, she felt an unknown tension slowly disappear from her body even with that most innocent of gestures. They stayed in that position long enough for Raven to become genuinely concerned that someone might stumble upon them and immediately begin spreading the word around the school. Though Raja never seemed to mind being the center of attention, Raven was not usually one to want to be in the public eye, and having news of this compromising situation reaching the student body would likely place her in their direct line of sight before the day was out.

Stepping back just enough to give them a respectable distance, Raven finally consented, "I won't. I just...I hate feeling like I have to compete to be noticed."

A noise of acknowledgment echoed into the younger woman's ears yet to her surprise Raja responded with a considering "I think...Manila feels the same way about me sometimes."

"She doesn't have to fight to get your attention," the brunette shot back with sarcasm and irritation dripping from her voice once more.

"No..." Raja readily agreed, "but she does for _yours_."

Raven felt her eyes growing wide at the statement as another guilty wave of embarrassment swept through her. As much as she hated to say it, Raja was right. Often times Raven did do her best to ignore the presence of the younger woman, particularly if Raja wasn't around to reprimand her for it.

Placing a light kiss to Raven's temple, Raja urged her friend once more, "Please...give her a chance. I think you two could really get along well."

Grumbling, Raven tried to back away but Raja's hold on her one arm still kept her close by. Knowing she wasn't likely to escape this conversation without some kind of agreement, she relented with a very impatient and unwilling, "I'll try. I'm not making any promises though."

"Thank you," the older women replied with a smile bright enough that it almost made Raven's head ache. Brushing aside that feeling for the time being, Raven resumed her path back towards the dormitories.

"Let's head back to my room, I need a shower and change of clothes."

Quickly closing the short distance again between her and the brunette, Raja laced their fingers together as they walked side by side and noted in a casual tone, "The shower I get, but clothes?"

Rolling her eyes, Raven felt a smirk growing across her face and immediately rebuffed her friend, "Come on...fucking perv."

"You wouldn't have me any other way," the older girl teased knowing full well how true her statement was.

As the pair traveled down the path, both failed to notice that the main topic of their conversation had been trailing behind them for the majority of the way. Though Manila remained too far back to hear what they had been discussing, she felt she had seen more than enough. Watching them standing so close together in what seemed like such an intimate embrace almost brought her to tears. Bile was rising in her throat at the sight of what looked to be a very private moment and it didn't take much imagination for her to picture their lips pressed to one anothers with so little space left between their bodies. She almost wished she had a better view but knew that if she actually witnessed that sight firsthand there'd be no chance for her to keep herself from falling apart. Even now it was all she could do not to rush on past them to her room to cry into her pillow for the rest of the night.

But the very last thing she wanted right now was for them to know that she had caught them together. For as long as she had known them, she recognized that they were close but still she held out a small hope that it was at a purely platonic level. Yet now it seemed as though that thought had to be permanently dashed from her mind. She just wondered how long it would be before they told her...

For a few minutes she remained sitting beneath a tree as she allowed the girls to get a head start back to wherever it was that they were going. Once she felt sure she wouldn't run into them by anything other than chance, she picked up her miserable self and continue back to her dorm room. She was hardly surprised to find it empty; she expected the pair to want a bit of privacy to resume whatever it was they had started back on the pathway.

As if going through the motions, Manila turned on the shared TV set and curled up beneath the messy blankets on her bed. With any luck she might just fall asleep and not have to think about those two together for the rest of the night. But to her disappointment only 40 minutes later the door opened and in came Raja and Raven. The eldest of the three greeted Manila with enthusiasm while Raven only did so out of courtesy. A rush of humiliation ran through Manila as she apologized for the incident outside the gym.

Raven was clearly biting her tongue from saying anything as scathing as she would have liked and only replied back with a tense, "Forget about it."

Interrupting for the sake of keeping the shaky peace, Raja added in, "And I know just how we can do that!"

Both of the girls felt their expressions morph into one of curiosity as they watched Raja stand on her mattress and carefully move one of the overhead tiles in the ceiling. Manila cringed at the sight of her reaching into the dark and probably cobwebbed filled space to pull out a surprisingly clean looking bag. Unwrapping the package and carefully setting one of the bottles on the bed beside her foot, Raja returned the remaining items back into the darkness and giddily plopped down on the mattress.

"Look what I got!" she exclaimed in an off-key, sing-songy voice.

Smirking, Raven stepped closer and examined the bottle closely as Manila asked in a thoroughly impressed manner, "How'd you get that?"

"It pays to have older friends," Raja replied proudly.

Grumbling, Raven rolled her eyes and interjected, "Even if they get you the cheap shit."

"Would you rather have the cheap shit or nothing at all?" Raja challenged with teasing smirk. Perhaps it was Manila's imagination acting up again but she could have sworn there was a hint of flirty undertone in the older woman's voice.

Raven however either didn't notice or chose to ignore it as she handed the bottle back to its owner and huffed out, "Just open the damned thing already."

******

Three hours later the bottle was empty, the sun was setting low in the sky and Raja was snoring peacefully into Raven's shoulder. They were huddled close together on Raja's bed while Manila stayed off by herself the entire time. The closest she ever came to them were the brief instances when they'd passed the bottle to over to her during her designated turns to drink. Aside from that she had mostly stayed out of what little conversation there was between the two as they all drank and watched whatever played across the TV screen. By the time Raja had fallen asleep, Raven was already well aware of the intentional distance Manila had kept from them and in her buzzed state of mind felt vaguely annoyed enough to call her out on it.

"'Nila," the brunette murmured out quietly so as not to awaken the girl beside her.

Though it was only because of the slur in her voice that butchered what was probably an attempt to use her full name, Manila still felt her stomach flip and twist at the sound similar to the nickname that Raven still had yet to use with her. Almost shyly she turned her head away from the screen she'd been half-focusing on and glanced over at the woman staring at her with distracted yet still calculating eyes.

"You've been sitting by yourself all night," Raven stated in a slightly accusatory tone. "Why?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Manila offered a dejected, "Wanted to give you two some space."

At the arch of Raven's brow as if she genuinely didn't know what the youngest of them was talking about, she continued on with an awkward hand running over her arm, "Cause you're...you know..."

She hoped Raven would take the hint so she wouldn't have to actually say it but perhaps in her inebriated state she truly couldn't guess what Manila was trying to imply. Their gazes locked together for a minute as they sat in mutual silence but after having enough of not getting a direct answer, Raven challenged, "What?"

Manila felt her jaw drop slightly in helplessness as her eyes shifted briefly to their sleeping companion before settling back to meet Raven's. The elder of the two seemed to be growing impatient with her hesitance and after forcing down a tense swallow, she finally whispered, "Cause you're...together."

The answer had certainly caught Raven off-guard and her sputtering was almost comical enough to draw out a small smile from the younger girl but at this particular moment she didn't think she could find any joy in a conversation relating to the pair's seemingly intimate relationship.

Once Raven finally seemed able to form a coherent thought after hearing such a bold and incorrect statement, she choked out in confusion, "What? What makes you think _that_?"

"Cause I saw you two earlier," Manila replied quietly as her eyes dropped to the floor. If she had dared to look up she would have seen a light trace of pink settling on Raven's cheeks. A pink that promptly turned several shades darker as she heard the further declaration of, "When you were kissing."

Before even a true thought registered in Raven's mind, she felt her mouth squeaking out the words of an adamant and embarrassed denial, "No, we weren't!"

Immediately Manila's head shot up and her eyes grew wide as if she couldn't believe what Raven had just said. She felt her face heating up as she anxiously awaited what the young woman would tell her next.

Sounding almost panicked, Raven hurriedly asserted, "We-We were just talking! That's it!"

At the moment Raven was torn between being more glad that Raja was asleep and unable to hear this and the relief that it only seemed to have been Manila that had spotted them earlier. If that's what their conversation had looked like to someone who ought to have known better, she could only imagine what another student might have assumed and then promptly shared with the rest of the school. God, they had been so lucky that it was just a friend of theirs!

As for Manila herself, she felt her heart racing with excitement and relief as it seemed to be that Raven was telling her the truth. Maybe there was some hope after all that the pair truly only was involved in what amounted to just a simple but close friendship...Maybe there was hope for _her_.

"Really?" she asked as her voice filled with cautious glimmer of optimism.

"Yes! Wha-Why did you think-," Raven all but demanded before cutting herself off as she still struggled to wrap her mind around what Manila had thought she witnessed.

Sliding herself off the bed, Manila tread carefully across the room until she had reached the pair still laying huddled together. She could hardly believe that Raja was sleeping through all of this but ultimately glad that she didn't have to face both of them in this moment.

As she hesitantly climbed onto the bed beside Raven, she questioned the older brunette, "So you...you aren't together?"

"No!" Raven asserted firmly as she tried to ignore that still erratic pulsing of her heart.

The answer brought a small but genuinely relieved smile to Manila's lips and immediately Raven felt her stomach drop. She probably just sealed her own fate with that confession but if she had lied?...Well, that would have been easily discovered and blown up in her face. And if she admitted her own feelings?...Also the same result.

The best she could do was just keep her mouth shut and wait for the inevitable to happen...with any luck maybe Raja truly wouldn't feel the same as Manila apparently did or perhaps if they did get together it wouldn't last very long. She felt awful for thinking that was but if she were honest with herself? Well, then she had to admit that she'd almost be tempted to drive them apart herself.

While she remained occupied with her own overwhelming thoughts, Manila scooted close to her and asked meekly, "What were you two talking about then?"

"You," Raven found herself admitting in her distracted state.

As for the young woman in question, she seemed to be shocked at the answer and immediately questioned, "Why?"

"Raja..." Raven trailed off as she stole a quick glance to confirm the eldest was still fast asleep. Once assured that the snoring was still present and her body hadn't even so much as twitched in indication that she would wake up soon, Raven said guiltily, "She wants us to...get along better."

"We do get along!" Manila asserted in earnest before slowly drawing in on herself as she took notice of Raven's shamed expression. Looking almost hurt, she asked, "Don't we?"

A rush of humiliation washed over the brunette as she realized that Manila hadn't even noticed that Raven disliked her, much less returned the sentiments. Her brow furrowed as she swallowed down her guilty conscience and confessed in full disgrace, "I haven't been...the most welcoming towards you."

"Oh...I didn't know."

It was hard to miss the dejection and undeniably wounded tone in Manila's voice. Another shot was sent straight to Raven's heart as she came to understand that this was all news to the younger girl and she honestly seemed to have been hurt with the newfound knowledge.

Pushing back a stray lock of hair that had fallen as Manila's head turned away, Raven whispered in remorse, "I'm sorry, Nila. I'm gonna do better. I _want_ to do better. I promise."

Almost instantly a bright smile that would have matched the one worn by Raja earlier graced Manila's lips before she flung herself around most of Raven's body in an unexpected and rather tight hug. Though the contact wasn't admittedly her most favorite, Raven found that she could at least tolerate it for a minute so long as it made Manila happy. As much as she hated to say it, Manila's smile was one of the better things she had seen today, especially after how her school day had ended so shittily.

When it became clear that Manila wasn't going to be moving anytime soon without additional prompting, Raven finally gave her a friendly nudge as she muttered in a mock-annoyed tone, "Okay, now get off of me; you're fucking heavy."

To her surprise, instead of immediately moving back, the young air elemental actually gave her a slight smirk and very gradually Raven felt a weight being lifted away from her body. Despite that warmth disappearing from where their skin had been touching, Manila still remained within inches of her line of sight. Raven was confused at first until she took notice of the slightly shaky bobbing that Manila now seemed subject to.

"How's this?" she asked in an evidently proud manner.

A smirk of her own tugged at Raven's lips as she realized what Manila had just achieved . She hardly recognized the rush of air lifting Manila's body above hers until her attention was solely focused on it. Conceding to recognize the accomplishment for what it was, especially considering how hard it was for most to master it as easily as Raja had, Raven complimented the younger woman, "You've gotten a lot better...Good job."

A flush filled Manila's cheeks at the kind words and her breath seemed to catch in her throat. A sudden bob jolted her forward until the pair's faces were uncomfortably close and then out of nowhere, Manila's tentative control had entirely disappeared. With little warning, the gently breeze that had been holding her steady was suddenly gone and promptly she fell back against Raven's unsuspecting body. Unfortunately her elbow had jabbed Raven in the stomach rather painfully but instead of glaring or even yelling, all that escaped was a small yelp followed by the biting of her lip.

"Still...needs a little work," Raven noted in a strained voice.

"Sorry, sorry," Manila apologized repeatedly as she hurriedly pushed herself away from Raven so that the elder could breath more easily.

"It's okay..." Raven assured her, "Just...give it a minute to go away."

Nodding, Manila stopped her frantic apologies as she waited for the tears beginning to well in Raven's eyes to finally recede. As soon as they were gone and Raven's body began to relax once more, Manila curled into Raven's side with an arm tossed gently across the young woman's midsection. A very light, almost imperceptible kiss was pressed to Raven's stomach as she heard a final murmur of apology.

Running a consoling hand through Manila's long, jet black hair, Raven reassured her, "It's fine."

To her astonishment, she found she actually meant the statement...and that there wasn't even a trace of anger for the blunder to be felt anywhere in her heart. She wasn't sure how long it took for them to fall asleep that night nor even who succumbed first, but all the same it was certainly one of the more restful and peaceful nights she had had in a long while.

*******

Over the coming weeks Raven had begun making genuine efforts to be more friendly towards the youngest of their group. It wasn't the easiest she had to admit, there were still moments of jealousy that arose whenever she saw what she considered to be preferential behavior from Raja but there _was_ progress. As her interactions with Manila and even tone of voice became noticeably warmer, she couldn't help but notice that the younger woman certainly seemed to be smiling a lot more...or at least it was directed at Raven a lot more than it had been. Not to say that Manila wasn't usually smiling, often she had a small grin plastered to her face even if distracted, but lately she seemed to favor bright, toothy smiles of glee, especially if she were to receive one of Raven's rare compliments.

One particular day as they were leaving their last classes of the afternoon in order to meet up with Raja, who was likely taking a welcomed smoke break, Raven found the younger woman staring at one of her worksheets in confusion. Manila's brows were knit together as she ran through the assignment several times before finally questioning the older girl, "You already took that intro class on inter-dimensional biology. right?"

"Yeah," Raven agreed in vague remembrance, "I think two semesters ago...why?"

"I can't-I'm completely stuck on this last module!" the dark haired girl complained in exasperation. "Like until now we were just focusing on one world at a time and I could identify everything perfectly but now she's got us comparing two related worlds and it doesn't make any sense! Everything looks the fucking same! How am I supposed to tell which world they came from?"

Nodding her head in understanding, Raven recalled her own experiences with that class and the frustration of that particular section of the lesson plan. Confirming she was in fact thinking of the right assignment, Raven asked, "You mean the ones in, um...AA-EU1 and BTS-UT4, right? Yeah, this part usually throws people off. I think I did decent when my class got there...let me see the worksheet."

Almost as though it were burning her to touch it, Manila was immediately holding out the paper and seemed rather relieved once it was out of her grasp. As Raven read through the assignment at a careful, discriminating speed, she felt the younger girl's eyes watching her eagerly. She had almost managed to faze it out when she felt a sudden, sharp tug at the back of her skirt. Looking down, she found Manila's hand clutching frantically at the edge of the fabric as her cheeks began to turn a bright pink.

She seemed at a loss for words for a few moments, before quickly explaining, "I'm sorry! Your skirt was-"

Manila didn't need to finish her sentence before Raven figured out what going on; from the corner of her eye she saw one side of Manila's own skirt being lifted up by unseen force. A muffled snickering was heard a few yards away and almost painfully, Raven's head snapped around to see two boys struggling not to laugh as the one was very obviously using his powers.

Overwhelmed with a fury she had never known before, Raven sprung into action as she willed the earth around the boys to raise up and enclose them in a coffin-tight casing of dirt. In an instant their previously amused expressions morphed into ones of absolute fear, particularly as she dragged them deep within the ground using a force so powerful she wouldn't have been surprised if they had whiplash. Though in the moment she would have loved nothing more than to bury them until there wasn't a hint of day light shining on them, Raven was still generous and left their heads safely above the soil line. The pair struggled as much as they could but from her view, all that could be seen was their heads bobbing around as they tried to use whatever powers they possessed to break free.

As Manila awkwardly readjusted her skirt, Raven felt another wave of anger surging through her and gave serious consideration to transplanting the boys far away from anywhere they were likely to be rescued from for a while. But the reality that she was certainly get into deep shit by doing so, especially if they ended up truly hurt kept her grounded enough not to follow through on that impulse. Instead she mollified her rage by sauntering up to the two, as well as the new gawking crowd, and taunted them with, "You wanted a better view, now you've got it."

"Ho-How long are you gonna keep us in here?" one of them asked in a growing panic even as they continue to fight uselessly beneath the packed earth.

Pretending to think to herself for a moment, Raven suggested in a biting tone, "You'll be in there until...someone decides to dig you out."

Turning heel back to her friend, Raven signaled for them to resume their journey to meet up with Raja at their usual spot by the fence near the gymnasium. She tried to hand the paper back to Manila but the jet haired girl instead chose to latch onto Raven's arm with an exceptionally dazzling grin and laughed out, "You were amazing!"

Rolling her eyes at the flattery, Raven muttered that it was nothing yet still oddly she allowed the younger girl to continue hanging off of her as they kept their pace down the sidewalk. She hardly thought anything of it until she saw Raja jogging across the field towards them and as subtly as she could, Raven disentangled their limbs before the eldest had managed to reach them.

The action didn't go unnoticed by the taller girl however and with a pleased, amused smirk she asked, "What's up with you two?"

Before either could answer, Raja's eyes drifted to the growing crowd several yards away and muttered distractedly, "And what's going..."

Suddenly her gaze fell back to the pair in front of her as she immediately guessed by their disinterest that they had likely been involved whatever spectacle was now causing students to pull out their phones and record the scene. Almost rhetorically she questioned them with, "Do I want to know?"

Unable to contain herself, Manila gushed about Raven's swift response to the harassment from the two boys, as well as her very appropriate punishment. Raja listened patiently, evidently pleased that Raven had stood up for both of them, and even bestowed upon Raven a sincere word of admiration for stopping the pair from doing it to anyone else. Shrugging, Raven tried to play it off as though it weren't a big deal but her stomach and heart still fluttered at Raja's compliment.

"What about _you_?" she questioned in an effort to take the attention off of herself, "What took you so long?"

Scratching the back of her head with a slightly shamed smile, Raja apologized, "Sorry. Catfight broke out behind the gym. Was trying not to get caught in it."

Rolling her eyes, Raven immediately guessed who was likely to be in the middle of such a thing, and asked with a mild reluctance, "Who's Sharon fighting with _this_ time?"

"Alaska," Raja replied meaningfully. Of all the answers Raven would have expected to receive that certainly was not one of them. In fact, she found that if she focused just enough, she could begin to make out the sound of what seemed to be a rather intense and certainly superpower-enhanced scrap taking place probably on just the other side of the gymnasium.

Mildly impressed by the blonde's decision, however asinine it might be, the brunette admitted, "Damn...Girl's got a set of balls on her, I'll give her that."

Nodding in a sober understanding, Raja agreed with trepidation, "Still dead though."

"Well," Raven added in with another shrug of her shoulders, "That's her fault for picking a fight with a fire elemental."

As if on cue, two large walls, one of fire and the other of ice, suddenly shot up into the sky and collided with deafening hiss of super-heated steam. Each element seemed to be trying to force the other into submission without much headway being made by either side. As Raven had figured, the walls had originated from the other side of gym and probably well out of sight of most of the teachers...at least for the time being.

Nervously, Manila tugged on both of the other girls' sleeves and suggested, "We should get out of here before the teachers catch wind of this."

Immediately agreeing, the pair nodded and joined the youngest in speed-walking back in the direction of the girls' dormitories. As the din of the afternoon's unexpected events began to fade behind them, Raja muttered, "Wouldn't surprise me if they need to call Ru in herself."

Manila and Raven murmured noises of agreement as the towering walls of fire and ice suddenly collapsed in such a brilliant fashion that it almost intrigued them enough to turn around and see what became of the fight....almost though.

*******

News about the brawl spread around the school like wildfire. If half the rumors were to be believed, Raven would have expected the pair of blondes to be at each other's throats with every chance they got...yet in just a few days' time they were sitting together in the cafeteria as though nothing had ever happened. In fact they seemed to be getting along rather well. They could often be found in each other's company as their group of friends seemed to merge into one until there was hardly a distinction to be made between all of them.

And then when rumors shifted to hint at a romantic relationship budding between the two?

Raven couldn't help but marvel at the pair and how their opinions of each other could have changed so drastically in just a short amount of time. She even brought it up at one point with Raja and Manila after she caught sight of the two holding hands during lunch. Raja didn't seem to be particularly interested in the development but Manila? The jet haired girl shared Raven's interest and often could be found glancing over to the pair whenever they displayed more than a typical amount of affection towards one another.

It came as no surprise to anyone when just a few weeks later their relationship became official...at least to the majority of the student body. Both Manila and Raven seemed to be in shock of the development and neither quite dared to comment on anything after that, aside from an uncomfortable 'Good for them.'

In the rare moments where Raven was truly alone with her thoughts, she couldn't help but draw some similarities between her new friendship with Manila and Sharon's with Alaska. Each of them actively disliked the other girl at first, even tried to ignored them yet somehow it all changed for one reason or another. Though Raven couldn't say she felt the same as Sharon did, she _had_ come to see Manila as of late as one of her closest friends. Almost as close as she felt to Raja...

The realization made her stomach twist and she couldn't quite figure out why. All she really knew was that she enjoyed seeing Manila happy and even if there were times when Raven would still become irritated with the younger girl, she found that she no longer wanted Manila out of their group. Though she still wasn't fond of how Raja still seemed to fawn over her, even sparking little instances of jealousy every so often, she was indeed content to have Manila around so long as nothing further changed between the three. But as always, change was inevitable.

Just two days after the public confirmation that Alaska and Sharon had begun dating, Manila had become noticeably quiet and pensive, especially around the other girls. It didn't take much to see she was musing over something of great importance but Raja and Raven agreed to give her space until she felt comfortable bringing it up on her own. Silently, Raven wondered what it could possibly be that weighed so heavily on the young girl's mind and one night as they all laid together in Raven's bed, she was finally given her answer.

Raven was sitting against her headboard, legs tangled with Raja and Manila's as they reclined against the wall bordering one edge of the mattress. She figured they were all doing the same thing, just watching a movie, but out of nowhere, both Raven and Raja's phone buzzed with a new alert. A quick glance to the screen confirmed it came from their group chat and curiously each opened it to find a very pointed question waiting for them from the third member; 'If you like someone...you should tell them, right?'

Raja's reply came back almost immediately, 'Of course.'

Raven however had to wait a moment before sending a reluctant, 'Yes.'

She had a feeling she knew where this conversation was going and was dreading it with every fiber of her being. A glance to the jet haired girl closest to her confirmed that Manila seemed to be quite anxious about the topic she had just brought up. Her eyes remained firmly glued to her phone as she began to tap away at her screen.

Raven felt her stomach drop to the floor as she read the next message that popped up in the chat; 'But what if there's another person involved...one that you know likes the same person you do?'

'Are they dating?' Raja asked.

'No,' came the response, so quick it almost seemed to be mocking Raven.

'Does the first person know about the other two's feelings?'

There was delay of a few seconds before 'I'm not sure' finally appeared.

The indication that Raja was typing soon appeared on the screen but Raven felt unable to focus her mind on it completely. She wanted to scream...or throw up...or kick them out of her room...Perhaps all three. Certainly Raja must have some inkling as to what Manila was talking about. She was far from clueless and judging by Raja's own behavior it seemed every bit possible that she returned Manila's affections.

Still being coy, at least to Raven's mind, Raja advised the young girl, 'Then if they aren't already in a committed relationship...you should probably talk to them. If neither of you is going to make a move, then you'll only ever just spend your time wondering why and what if? Sometimes you need to take a chance, even if it's scary.'

'Terrifying,' Manila agreed.

All activity went quiet for a few moments until Manila was heard taking in a long, deep breath. She had just turned to face the eldest among them when Raven clenched her eyes shut to try and block out what was about to happen next.

"Raja..." Manila spoke in soft, guilt-laden tone. "I'm sorry."

The brunette's eyes shot open, unsure she had truly heard what she thought she had and quickly found herself face-to-face with an incredibly nervous young woman.

In a nervous, shaky voice, Manila called out, "Raven?"

She felt at a loss for what to say but even if she had been able to come up with something, she was given very little chance to vocalize it. Before Raven even registered the lack of distance between her and Manila, she felt a pair of soft lips being placed lightly over top of hers. Something deep inside her mind screamed at her to return the gesture but she just felt to be in too much of a state of shock to anything other than turning a bright red. It was like every last bit of her thought process came to a screeching halt followed by a prompt implosion as she tried to make sense of Manila's actions.

The kiss barely lasted more than three seconds but it was enough to make each of the girls feel like more than an hour had passed by. As Manila pulled away, Raven spared a glance over to see a highly amused Raja struggling not to laugh. She knew the expression she was wearing was far from attractive, her mouth hanging open and wide eyes darting between the other occupants hoping to find some clue as to what she ought to do. In truth she felt barely in control of anything, much less the volume of her own voice as she demanded in a panic, "What!?! What was-Why did you-?"

Flustered and confused, Manila cut in, "I thought-Raven, I was talking about _you_! Didn't you-"

"No!" she interrupted, "I thought you were talking about _Raja_!"

"But Raja likes _you_ ," the young woman informed her as though it were the most obvious statement in the world.

Shaking her head and correcting the misguided belief, Raven asserted, "No, she likes _you_!"

"I like both of you," came a calm voice from across the bed.

"Why would you think she likes _me_?" Manila questioned as her befuddlement seemed to compound with every passing second. "It's obvious she has a thing for you. She has for as long I've known you both!"

"No, she doesn't!" Raven denied once again. "She's always fawning over you! Including you in everything, making sure you're always around-"

"Because she knows I like you!" Manila stated even as her voice began to show noticeable signs of cracking. "And so does she!"

Refusing to believe anything of the sort, Raven again informed her, "No, that was because she likes _you_!"

"Or both of you," Raja piped up a second time.

Despite the assertion of her true feelings, Raja could see that anything she would say would just go in one ear and out the other of both girls so long as they kept up their pointless bickering over who she actually liked. Rolling her eyes, she crawled in between the arguing girls and slapped a hand over each of their mouths. At once both of them ceased trying to speak and stared at her in near utter embarrassment. While the two had been so focused on each other, they had truly forgotten that she was still in the room, much less only two feet away from them.

"Neither of you heard anything I just said, did you?" Raja questioned in something almost akin to annoyance.

The pair shook their heads in synchrony and finally allow the eldest a chance to speak while she held their full attention. With her typical calm demeanor returning, she asked in a simple manner, "Instead of arguing with each other over who I like, why don't you just ask me?"

Manila and Raven shot each other a look of guilt and shame but it was actually Manila who dared to speak the intimidating question, "Who...Who do you like?"

"Both of you," Raja stated firmly.

Wholly skeptical, Raven blurted out, "Both?"

"Yes. Both," the taller girl declared with an air of finality. "Not one over the other; _both_...Differently but _equally_."

"Oh."

Another wave of silence swept over the room but Raja was far from done with the subject. Once in, all in and they certainly had a number of things to address in her opinion. Turning her attention to the brunette, she told the younger girl, "And Raven...Manila likes you, too. But you've never noticed until now, have you?"

"No..." Raven admitted slowly. Piece by piece she poured over all of her interactions with Manila and found that if she had looked, she probably would have noticed the feelings of the youngest a long time ago. But she had been so engulfed by her jealousy that she refused to even entertain the idea that Manila could even be a friend, much less that she might hold deeper feeling for her instead of Raja. A strong overtone of shame and caution resonated in her voice as she asked her best friend, "You've been dropping hints about it all this time, haven't you?"

Smirking, Raja replied, "You finally caught on...But how do you feel about _her_?"

Floored, Raven couldn't help but think that any honest answer was still very likely to hurt Manila...but at the very least she deserved to know the truth. Raven owed her that much.

"Nila..." Raven began softly, "I don't...think of you in the same way that I think of Raja...I'm really sorry...I'm sorry that I never noticed how you felt until now but I never really considered you in that light-"

She intended to continue on but Raja coolly swept in with a question that caught her completely off guard, "Do you think, if given the chance, those feelings might develop?"

"Um...maybe," Raven replied unsurely as she shrugged her shoulders. She supposed anything was possible.

"And Manila..." Raja started off again as she turned her focus to the dejected looking girl sitting on her opposite side.

The youngest of the three seemed to be fighting back the welling of tears but at the sound of her name from Raja's lips, her head turned up and eyes grew wide in anticipation.

Seeing that Manila was listening, Raja queried her gently, "How do you feel about _me_?"

The jet haired girl immediately began chewing on her bottom lip as she darted her eyes to the bedspread in an effort to avoid Raja's scrutinizing gaze. Her heart was pounding in her chest from her abrupt confession, Raven's response, and of course Raja's own admission. She felt like her mind was trapped in an ever constricting tunnel as she tried to think of how to reply to the older girl. In truth she had long been confused regarding Raja. With Raven she recognized immediately when she began to feel attracted to the older girl but Raja was another story entirely...She was fun, friendly and warm. Someone Manila felt she could talk to about anything and would want to keep in her life forever but never did she think of adding a romantic quality to their relationship...nor that the feelings might already exist within Raja. A large part of her had hoped after seeing Raven beginning to open up to her that she might return the same emotions that Manila harbored...never had she expected to learn following her confession that her other best friend was attracted to both Raven and her.

Quite reluctantly, Manila finally found the courage to answer in a soft whisper, "I don't know...I hadn't thought about it before...I mean, I like Raven, that was always obvious to me, but you? You're still kind of a...mystery."

Nodding her head, Raja didn't seem to be disappointed in the least. In fact she appeared to have been expecting that or a similar answer. Sitting herself back far enough that she could look at the two of them together, she proposed, "Manila, you like Raven. Raven, you like me. And I like both of you...so what's stopping us from exploring this?"

"What do you mean?" Raven asked as Manila repeated a very similar sentiment.

Reiterating her point, Raja suggested calmly, "Why can't we trying building something more than what we already have, together?"

"Like dating...each other?" Manila inquired as she scratched at the back of her head. "At the same time?"

"It's not as unusual as you're making it sound," the eldest of the three explained thoughtfully, "There's a lot of successful relationships with three or more people...as long as everyone wants to make it work."

Still unsure, Raven and Manila cast a quick side-eye to each other at Raja's unique offer. Sensing their trepidation, the older of the three affirmed, "It doesn't even need to be that different, just...one step at a time and we go from there. We'll still be best friends, just...we'll be more open with our feelings about one another."

For a long while the room stayed silent as Manila and Raven mused over the proposal. Raven for one was trying to think of all the ways this could blow up in their faces and convince herself that it was a horrible idea...yet when she looked over at Raja's understanding gaze and Manila's cautiously hopeful expression, she had to admit the idea seemed like it just might be worth it. Unable to find words appropriate to the situation, she simply opted to nod her head as a careful and somewhat relieved grin worked its way across her lips. Upon seeing that Raven was willing to give the new relationship a try, Manila pushed aside any remaining doubts she might have had and confirmed for the both of them with an ecstatic 'Yes.'

The coming months were a challenge for the girls, not just with balancing their relationship with their school work and other obligations, but also just learning once again how they ought behave with one another. Each had their own tastes and found themselves learning to make allowances for the others' preferences. Manila was physically affectionate, Raven was not. Raja was very open with her feelings but only after being prompted. Raven acted as though she were unaffected but would often dwell on her emotions far longer than the others.

They all had to learn how to create a balance and maintain it but after several trials and errors, they had to admit; they think they finally figured it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next will be Shalaska!


	3. Shalaska

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be Witney!

The last bell of the day was a welcome sound to most. It signaled the end of mandatory classes and the start of either an afternoon of more preferential courses or simply just having the rest of the day to yourself to do as you pleased. For Sharon and a number of the other students, it came as quite a relief because unless they were exceptionally skilled at sneaking around between classes, it was very likely they hadn't had a chance to smoke since lunch or even that morning if they were truly unlucky.

Aside from the nicotine fix, it was also an opportunity for Sharon to be a little more social as all the school's smokers tended to gather in the same area behind the gym, a slightly secluded spot just beyond the exterior entrance to the girl's locker room. As the last gym classes of the day winded down and school sports or sparring clubs picked up, there was a slight increase in foot traffic but it also offered a show, albeit distantly, for Sharon and the others to watch if their conversation turned dull. One of the particular reasons Sharon liked the social aspect directly stemmed from the arrival of one of newly enrolled students. Though she had only been there a few months, Willam had already made a bit of a name for herself...and her flamboyant attitude, complete with the special effects to match.

As most quickly found out, Willam's power of fire manipulation was quite potent and conspicuous. It was rather easy to tell when she'd become annoyed or irritated as little bursts of fire would be exhaled with nearly every huff or sigh (typically with an eye roll following suit). And Willam certainly played up that aspect of herself as though it were her proudest feature. Sharon quickly came to know better after having gotten to know the girl more deeply but it wasn't her place to comment on such a topic so she just kept her observations to herself.

However, along with Willam came a number of other friends that she had made; some welcomed and others not. Of those included her roommate, Alaska Thunder. Though Sharon and Alaska had never really spoken to one another, even after Willam became a mutual connection between them; there was still a silent but rather blatant tension. For her part, Alaska didn't care for the negative influence Sharon seemed to have on her roommate, particularly the instances that ended with them getting caught after engaging in some questionable activities...which may or may not have reached the ears of the headmistress. And of course another source of annoyance was Willam's growing reluctance to participate in additional training, preferring instead to smoke behind the gym and chat the afternoon away with Sharon and the others.

As for Sharon, she didn't appreciate Alaska's distant and dismissive attitude towards her; the judgmental stares, the cold tone whenever they did exchange a few cordial greetings. The other blonde struck her as almost being arrogant but that didn't seem to be the right word for it. Sharon never heard of her bragging about her powers yet she knew there was a deep respect among a number of the students for them.

'Typical,' she thought. Proficiency with any element other than the common four was likely to cause excitement. And as far as Sharon knew, the only other elemental that could control electricity or lightning was Alyssa Edwards and when _she_ first arrived? It was an ordeal to say the least. Alaska seemed to have learned to control her powers early on but that was still a number of months before Sharon had enrolled.

No...Alaska wasn't one to boast about her powers, nor even her grades. They weren't the best in the class but certainly high enough to receive formal recognition from the honor society...Sharon just couldn't put her finger on why the other blonde struck her as overly confident and proud. Perhaps it was just her default personality but it still rubbed Sharon the wrong way.  Almost like Alaska was _trying_ to make her feel inferior for whatever reason. She tried to brush that thought aside, even burying it beneath a distinct layer of contempt, but it left her stomach twisting more than once. So to combat it, Sharon had taken to ignoring Alaska as best she could, an act that was usually reciprocated.

There were a few instances where they could not avoid each other's presence though, one of which included the days when Alaska's gym class decided to take their activities outside. Often times, the younger blonde stayed behind in order to help the teacher clean up any extra equipment that might otherwise get in the way of the teams that used the fields after them. This usually led to the pair passing each other as Alaska retreated back into the locker to change before heading back to her dorm. One such day nearly turned their mutual dislike of each other into a genuine hatred.

Sharon had been the first to arrive behind the gym after having been craving a much needed smoke break for the better part of the day. Most of the time she was able to work in at least one cigarette at the end of her lunch period but her desire to finish her worksheet, which might have been due for her next class and somehow forgotten about the previous night, kept her attention until only five minutes remained before the bell rang. She still had yet to eat and was torn between the desire for a quick nicotine fix and filling her grumbling stomach. Ultimately she chose the latter, arguing that she could wait until the afternoon without any consequences...that turned into a bit of a mistake.

Her final two classes left her feeling quite irritable, both from the stress of the content and the absence of a calming substance in her body. But she managed to make it through the courses without losing her temper and once the final bell rang, she was off like a shot to the welcomed shade behind the gym. But before the door was even in sight, she was already fumbling in her pockets in preparation for that first long awaited drag. Her hands found the box of cigarettes without an issue but the lighter? That was another story.

Her heart was sinking as she tried to remember if she had actually grabbed it from her dresser top this morning but even if she had, it certainly wasn't with her at this moment when she needed it the most. Consoling herself that certainly someone else should have a lighter, she rushed off to the farthest side of the gym to find it shockingly empty. Not a single other student aside from those just reentering the locker room from their gym class could be seen. But her hopes picked up as she saw Raven slip past the doorway. Though the girl didn't smoke herself, Sharon knew she often kept a lighter just in case for Raja whenever the two would meet up following her gym class. It was a small chance but Sharon would gladly take it...Now she just had to wait for the girl to reappear or for another smoker to join her in the meantime. Or perhaps even Willam would be stopping by soon and Sharon could goad her into using her powers once again as she had done a few times in the past.

The minutes seemed to drag on for hours as the blonde waited for someone of any use to join her. As she looked out into the field she felt her stomach lurch as an all too familiar figure made its way towards the locker room. Sharon was more than ready to pretend she hadn't seen but a tantalizing thought snuck its way to the front of her mind.

Who knew when Sharon could finally get her hands on a lighter? It could still be several minutes yet and she desperately needed a fix _now_ to keep her sanity in check. Sure, she and Alaska never really got along but certainly the girl would oblige her in using her powers to create a small spark...just one so she could finally enjoy her much needed cigarette...It couldn't hurt to ask after all.

As the taller blonde drew nearer, Sharon failed to notice a few key details that otherwise would have easily convinced her not to give into temptation, namely the excess dirt smeared across Alaska's hands and legs, the blood from her newly skinned knee, and of course the barely concealed scowl Alaska was wearing as she swore violently inside her head. Her class had ended in a spectacular failure; she had fallen in front of everyone during her sparring match and gotten hurt but pride refused to let her run off to the locker room with the others. No, she still stayed behind to help the teacher shuffle the protective gear, what little there was of it, and the additional training dummies back into the shed so now not only was her knees aching, but so were her back and shoulders. All she wanted right now was a hot shower...certainly not to see Sharon eyeing her up eagerly.

She tried to pass by without even a glance to the older girl but to her ever increasing exasperation, she heard Sharon addressing her brightly, "Hey, Sparky!"

'Where did _that_ come from?' she thought as her brow arched at the unusual and unwanted nickname.

"Got a light?" the blonde asked as warm and friendly as could be managed while meaningfully holding up her pack of cigarettes.

"I don't," came the tense response as Alaska unwillingly paused just outside the locker room door. She was so close to finally getting a chance to clean up and the absolute last thing she wanted to deal with right now was fucking Sharon.

But still the older girl kept pushing as she suggested, "Couldn't you just..."

Alaska just stared at her blankly, knowing what she was hinting at yet still in a mildly annoyed state of shock that Sharon would even _think_ of approaching her for something like that. Powers were not something for them to just for random purposes, especially for something as ridiculous as this. Upon seeing her disapproving expression, Sharon unwisely continued to press, "C'mon, just this once."

"You can't wait for someone else?" the younger woman asked derisively. Throwing in an additional sneer she suggested, "Like Willam?"

"I've _been_ waiting!" Sharon argued as her patience began to rapidly dwindle with each word falling from the arrogant woman's mouth. Off to the side, she could hear the locker room door beginning to open and a number of students had begun to exit but something in her refused to let herself be distracted from finally addressing Alaska's irritating attitude. Even from the corner of her eye Sharon thought she saw Raven mixed in with the crowd but she just couldn't let this explicit display of self-righteousness slide. Huffing out much like Willam would do in a similar situation, Sharon shot back, "It's not like I'm asking for your first born here so could you just drop the icy bitch act an-"

That one phrase was just enough to push Alaska past the edge even though she was sure that if anyone else had said it, she probably would have brushed it off and continued on with her day. But the simple fact that it was Sharon saying it at a time when she was already so close to screaming in frustration was all that was needed to turn the mild annoyance she felt into absolute anger. Succumbing to a temptation she normally wouldn't even have considered, she allowed the aggravation she felt building up turn into something physical. Sharon didn't even seem to be aware that anything had begun burning in her hand until Alaska noted scornfully, "Better smoke those quick."

The look of confusion on the older blonde's face was the last thing she saw before storming past the growing crowd of classmates and smokers that had begun to gather near the back of the gym. As for Sharon, she was almost ready to call out an even less flattering name directed at the young woman but a sudden pain in her hand quickly distracted her. To her shock, she found her entire pack of cigarettes on fire and burning away to a crisp. Dropping the very hot and rapidly dwindling object to the ground, Sharon did the first thing she could think of to extinguish the flames as she made a mental note of how the fire almost immediately begun to spread across the dry grass surrounding it. She scanned the crowd looking for anyone who had anything liquid with them and quickly forced the contents to push past either the cap or lid of their containers and pour itself over the area in front of her.

At almost the same time a patch of dirt joined the puddle of mostly water in smothering the growing flames and preventing them from expanding even further across the school grounds. Sharon looked up just in time to make eye contact with Raven before a sudden and very unexpected gust of wind blew across the area. A few splatters of the newly formed mud splashed across Sharon's face and clothes but undoubtedly the person who had gotten the worst of it was Raven.

Taking in the scene and the powers she knew each of the other students possessed, Sharon soon figured out what had happened; Manila, the only air elemental currently close enough to have created the gale had appeared just beside Sharon as she too responded in an effort to help put out the fire. Unfortunately her timing was off and with her shaky control over her powers, a situation Sharon recognized as similar to Willam's, she overestimated her own strength and direction of the wind which resulted in almost everyone nearby getting some amount of dirt and mud on their person. However, because Raven had been the person standing almost directly opposite to her and at such a close range to the puddle; she received the brunt of the blast of both air and mud. If Sharon hadn't been so pissed, she probably would have laughed at the woman standing in front of her now looking like a Jackson Pollock painting but right now there was very little she could find amusing in this situation.

Instead of a nearly full pack of cigarettes she had brought with her this morning, now she didn't have a single cigarette to her name and was covered in filth to boot, all because of Alaska. A bubbling rage began to rise in the pit of her stomach as she chose to stalk inside the locker room and get cleaned up. As she left, Raja came rushing up to stop the fight that was likely about to break out between Manila and Raven, judging solely by the latter's harsh glare, but that was hardly a concern for her. Right now she wanted nothing more than to punch something and failing Alaska, a locker made just as good a target as anything.

The locker room itself was nearly empty by this time as most students had exited by either the exterior door or the one leading back into the hallway. As Sharon made her way over the sinks and changing stalls, the faint rush from one of the showers was heard in the background. Choosing not to concern herself with any of the other students that might still be lingering, Sharon instead focused on cleaning herself up as much as possible. The task of removing the mud from her clothes wasn't nearly as difficult as one would expect due in large part to the proficiency Sharon had with her powers. Scraping off the mud with a paper towel, Sharon turned on the faucet and gently manipulated the water to rush through her clothes and rinse out any remaining dirt or stains. Once satisfied, she turned the steady stream off and redirected her attention on getting her clothing dry.

It took very little effort to will the water from leaving even the deepest interior of the fabric, however little could be done to smooth out the slight wrinkling at this point. But it was still better than nothing. She'd be heading back to her dormitory anyway after bumming a cigarette from one of her friends. Now all that was left to do was clean off the mud from her face. At this point it had mostly dried by itself so rubbing it off her bare skin took very little time. Her hair though was a bit more of a challenge. She didn't quite dare to soak her hair as she had with her clothes as that would have ruined the careful straightening she had done earlier that morning. Instead she had to be content with picking out the chunks of mud and praying that she had removed all of them before considering herself decent enough to face the student populace again.

Still though, she felt a bit disgusting after that ordeal and about the only thing she could think of to help combat that was to use a bit of body spray until she got a chance to take a proper shower. Luckily she kept a small bottle in her locker for similar situations following any particularly exhausting gym class, especially in the warmer months. Making her way towards the rows of lockers, Sharon noted that the shower had stopped running at some point, though it was difficult to say exactly when that had happened. Must have been fairly recently as Sharon heard the distinct sound of someone rummaging through their own belongings.

What she hadn't expected to find standing by her lonesome was the person who had started all of this.

Alaska seemed unaware that anyone else was left in the room, still feeling vaguely annoyed but after taking out some of her frustration as someone she deemed worthy; her irritation was slowly starting to drain away. Particularly now that she was clean once again, though still just a bit cold with nothing but a flimsy towel covering herself with for the time being.

Sharon noted with a newfound anger that the younger blonde was still quite soaked following her shower...seems she hadn't gotten around to drying off completely just yet, perhaps just due to wanting to leave as soon as possible following her brief clean up.

'Perfect,' Sharon thought as a petty notion worked its way to the front of her mind. 'Time for a bit of payback.'

She didn't allow herself a chance to second guess her gut instinct to take advantage of the water clinging to the younger woman's skin. A rush of sick pleasure jolted her stomach as she manipulated the droplets hanging from Alaska's body to bend entirely to her will. In an entirely unnatural manner, Alaska's posture immediately stiffened from the neck down as Sharon made her presence known by showily walking up the row of lockers with a cocky grin firmly in place.

The sudden lack of freedom caught Alaska by surprise but within seconds the confusion turned to a near blind rage. The anger she had felt before was nothing compared to what was contained in her heart right now. It seemed as if every negative emotion she had ever harbored towards Sharon compounded until it was all she could do not to throw school rules aside and just deck the girl beside her.

"What the hell do you want?" Alaska spat out as began to analyze the situation and think of countermeasures to break free from Sharon's hold.

Smirking, Sharon forced the body in front of her to turn her way in a jerky, ill-balanced manner until both women were more or less face to face. Though Alaska towered a good number of inches over the older woman, Sharon felt entirely in control of the situation. She knew her mastery over water was enough to maintain her advantage despite the pure raw power that most lightning elements seemed to inherit as their powers appeared. Even if Alaska might be stronger under normal circumstances, right now there was very little she could do without electrocuting herself...at least that was what Sharon had thought.

Despite the growing scowl on the taller woman's face, Sharon remained completely amused as she told Alaska matter-of-factually, "You're going to buy me a new pack of cigarettes."

Rolling her eyes, the younger blonde immediately shot back, "You're fucking high if you think I'm doing that."

"Honey," Sharon taunted in mockingly sweet tone, "I _know_ you're going to buy me another pack...It's that or the other alternative..."

To make her point, Sharon applied every bit of skill she had into forcing Alaska's arm to slowly but gracefully raise up to the edge of her towel and clutch at the corner that had been securely tucked against her skin. Alaska's eyes grew wide with shock then quickly narrowed in anger as she stared down the older woman with a glare that practically dared her to follow through with her threat.

"What?" she sneered with a venomous rage in her voice, "You're gonna make me drop my fucking towel for you? Fucking perverted little-"

"Not for _me_ ," Sharon scoffed, hardly even entertaining the suggestion, "But...I could make you march right into the hall...or out onto the field...I'm sure someone out there would love to see you this vulnerable."

"Fucking bitch," Alaska all but muttered under her breath.

Far from offending Sharon, she actually seemed entertained by the reaction, but still she wasn't any closer to getting what she truly wanted. So in order to convince Alaska a little more quickly, she willed the water slowly force Alaska's legs to bend and step forward until they just within two feet of one another.

Sharon had been so assured of impending victory that much like only a few minutes prior she failed to notice a few key details about the younger blonde. First, was the increasing amount of steam that had begun floating off the younger woman's body, especially coming from the hand wrapped around the corner of the towel. Next, was how close and how exposed she had let herself become as she took every opportunity to taunt the blonde standing directly in front of her. And then finally and perhaps most importantly, how dangerously pissed off Alaska had become. True annoyance was not an uncommon feeling but pure, unchecked anger? That was another story entirely. And as was true with most elementals; emotions were strongly linked to their powers, either to mitigate or enhance them.

And now?

Alaska's anger had reached a boiling point and in just a few seconds the excess water clinging to her skin evaporated and far too late to be able to react, Sharon realized that she had lost control of the body in front of her. The hand that had been grasping the towel was now beginning to burn the cloth as Alaska's rage began to manifest itself into a physical form. Nearly the second she was free from Sharon's hold she had a chance to see the older blonde's face morph into one of utter fear before that same burning hand clenched itself into a fist and collided with Sharon's cheek.

She knocked the older woman down to the floor with so much power it had honestly surprised herself, not just the blonde on the receiving end. Sharon had gone from being totally in control to almost completely at Alaska's mercy as she fell to the ground from the impact and shock. There was a sharp sting beginning to resonate from her cheek where the powerful impact had burnt her flesh but that was hardly a major concern at the moment. Mostly Sharon just felt so utterly and completely stupid and scared that she had misjudged the situation so severely. She honestly thought Alaska was a lightning elemental like Alyssa yet here she was with undeniable proof that the blonde was in fact a _fire_ elemental...a very potent and skilled one at that.

Currently the younger woman's hand and lower arm were flaming as she stepped towards the collapsed body gaping up at her in shock. Sharon's already pale skin had lightened considerably as she took in the gravity of her situation. If she were honest with herself, Alaska was not sure what she would have done had not one of the locker room doors begun to open. The tell-tale squeaking of the hinges distracted her enough for Sharon to get ahold of herself and scramble to her feet. Quickly turning tail as at least two pairs of footsteps drew near, Sharon ducked around another row of lockers and rushed towards the door leading back into one of the interior hallways.

She was sure Alaska wouldn't dare to follow her but she still had no desire to let anyone else see her in such a state...at least not unless it was the one person she trusted to help in a situation like this; Jinkx Monsoon.

The young woman, along with a few other students, helped serve in the nurse's office due to their unique abilities to rapidly heal physical ailments. True, there were limitations, mostly related to the types of afflictions they were able to cure but for something like singed flesh? That should be a small task and thankfully Sharon was well aware of when Jinkx's shifts in nurse's station were. Mostly the redhead worked from the late afternoon well into the evening. The actual staff was often called away to assist on missions that were expected to be exceptionally dangerous so they left the care of the students, who usually only came in with minor injuries, to the upperclassmen that had proven they can serve in the office and still maintain their grades.

Jinkx's personality suited her perfectly towards tending the other students, however the only aspect of her that drew any criticism was that every so often she could be found sleeping at her desk or one of the cots as the narcolepsy overpowered her consciousness. The school's staff was remarkably understanding of this, perhaps in large part because she was so useful otherwise. But this was also one of the reasons they gave her such an awkward schedule; there was really no way to tell when the odd sleep patterns might appear, whether it be early morning, mid afternoon, or late at night so why not take advantage of her otherwise wakefulness? At 11 PM it was equally likely for her to be wide awake as it was possible for to be dead asleep at 11 AM. So unlike other students who usually showed signs of fatigue late at night, the staff opted to assign someone they knew had a good chance otherwise of remaining awake and alert. And if she happened to fall asleep? Well, it wasn't expected to be very busy so late at night anyway, plus she had a companion who was there to help wake her up as needed. Not that Dela was part of the staff, but she ought to have been with how often she and Jinkx stayed in the nurse's station together; a point Sharon loved to tease them about.

There may or may not have been a pool going around as to when the two would finally get together. As for Sharon, she had $30 riding on the belief that it wouldn't happen until sometime in the winter closer to one of their school breaks.

However at this time of day Dela was unlikely to be in the office as she had opted for one of the additional late afternoon classes. Something to do with one of the electives for portals, Sharon thought.

Regardless, the nurse's station was empty, save for the redhead, by the time Sharon had arrived. Though Jinkx was not in sight, she could easily be heard rummaging through one of the small supplies closets near the front of the office. Sharon had no hesitance about making her presence known immediately, due mostly to the fact that her cheek was stinging quite painfully and almost felt to be spreading. Though the skin was very nearly cauterized, Sharon wouldn't have been surprised if it suddenly began to bleed once the burnt flesh began to peel off.

"Jinkx!" she called out shakily as soon as she had passed the doorway, "I need you like right now!"

"Just a sec," came the reply as her footsteps were heard turning around in the closet.

To her credit she was very quick to reappear but she hadn't seemed to pick up on the urgency of Sharon's situation, at least not until she laid eyes on the blonde herself.

"Hey, what's-" the words died on her lips nearly the second she reentered the main office and instantly her eyes grew wide with concern as she rushed over to take a closer look. Her voice dipped into a worried, consoling tone she had come to be known for as she demanded, "Baby, what happened? Come into the back, we need to get you fixed up!"

Whenever Jinkx flew into her mother-mode it was practically impossible to argue with her, not that Sharon had any mind to. This was one of the rare instances when the blonde didn't have any objections to the younger woman fawning over her as she took in the extent of the damages once they were under the stronger lighting available in the back office. After having her ass handed to her, Sharon was all too ready to have Jinkx nurse her wounds as well as her pride. Somehow being taken care of, even if just for a few minutes, helped dulled the mortified sting that remained ever present in her heart.

Despite the small smile that appeared on Sharon's lips as the redhead flipped into work mode, Jinkx's main cause of concern forced her to repeat once more, "What happened to you? Who did this?"

"Alaska..." Sharon admitted shamefully as Jinkx raised her hand to begin healing the burnt flesh on Sharon's cheek. "She punched me in the locker room."

Though the blonde expected Jinkx to immediately be on her side, she was shocked when the redhead rolled her eyes and asked reproachfully, "What'd you do to piss her off?"

"Why do you think it's _my_ fault?" the older woman squeaked out defensively. A look of disbelief and prodding spread across Jinkx's face as she stared the blonde down and waited for an honest answer. Guiltily, Sharon looked away but still she felt she couldn't escape that motherly, disapproving glare despite not actually looking the redhead in eyes. Crossing her arms over her chest while Jinkx continued her work unbothered, Sharon relented and confessed in a huff, "Okay, fine! I wanted her to pay for a new pack of cigarettes."

Sharon didn't have to look to know Jinkx was wondering how that could have possibly made sense in the older blonde's mind and quickly took to explaining with an adament, "She burnt mine to a fucking crisp and it was a new pack! I didn't know she controlled fire, okay? I thought it'd be electricity and she'd just shock herself if she tried anything cause she just got out of the shower!"

"Why did you think she controlled electricity?" Jinkx asked sounding quite exasperated. To her knowledge, it was well-known that Alaska was a fire elemental, given her exhibition matches for the school and prominence of being on Ru's short list of applicants for student-included portal control missions. She could hardly believe her ears when she heard Sharon's reasoning of, "Cause of her name!"

Jinkx's eye actually twitched as she heard the words slip out of her patient's mouth. She wanted to do nothing more than to reach around the back of Sharon's head and slap her for being so stupid. But that wasn't entirely in her nature, instead she simply finished her work of healing the wound and muttered that Sharon was of course a 'fucking idiot.'

As the older woman let out a vaguely offended gasp, Jinkx spun around and dashed off to the supply drawer behind her to pick up a few squares of gauze. Wetting them in the nearby sink, Jinkx took in a calming deep breath and set to finally explaining to Sharon just how wrong her assumptions were, "Okay, first; thunder and lightning are _not_ the same thing!"

Despite not looking at her, Jinkx knew that Sharon's eyes were undoubtedly rolling but letting that slide for the time being, she returned to the blonde's side and began wiping away any remaining evidence of blood or burnt flesh with the damp cloth. Continuing on, she lectured, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "Second; a person's name and power are about as much related as well...Kameron is related to Chad! She was about as likely to control lightning as I was to control water...God, Sharon! Do you even realize how lucky you were that this was all you got? When she sparred off with Roxxxy last semester-do you even remember that?"

"Yeah," Sharon muttered under her breath, "Wasn't there though. Skipped it."

"Wish you hadn't!" Jinkx argued vehemently, "Might have stoppped you from doing something this fucking stupid!"

"It was just an exhibition match!" the blonde reasoned, still not understanding just what the big deal was, "It wasn't mandatory. She won, didn't she?"

"Yes!" the redhead all but screamed, "And not by a small amount either. By all accounts, if we were betting on who'd win solely by their powers, Roxxxy would have been the obvious choice...but that's not how it played out. Not even close!"

Jinkx finished wiping off the last traces of the incredibly one-sided fight and tossed the soiled gauze pads into the closest trash can. While she took to washing her hands in the sink, Sharon inquired somewhat reluctantly, "Well, what happened then? Alaska controls fire and what's Rox again? Earth?"

"Yeah..." Jinkx confirmed distractedly as the rally from last semester played out in her head. Sounding almost as if she were watching it firsthand once more, she narrated to the blonde, "When the match started, Alaska wasn't even making a dent at first, at least that's not what it looked like. Her attacks were sporadic but...that's just cause she was sizing up Roxxxy's weak points."

A vivid memory of Alaska darting around Roxxxy sending seemingly random bursts of fire directed at various spots became prominent in Jinkx's mind. She had to admit, she'd been fooled by it as well as most of the crowd; Alaska looked overwhelmed...at least until you paid attention to her expression. Once Jinkx finally knew what to look for, she wondered how she or anyone could have missed it...especially once that self-satisfied smirk began curling around the blonde's lips mid-fight.

Entirely dazed as she recalled the details of the match, Jinkx noted in a vague, pensive voice, "It looked like she was barely holding her own until Rox got cocky and left herself open. If you could have seen the smirk on Alaska's face! The second Roxxxy created her armor, Alaska saw that as a chance not to hold back. She didn't want to hurt Roxxxy any more than she had to in order to win and the armor was just enough to protect her...Alaska concentrated everything into like this dense, superheated drill and practically melted Roxxxy's armor away with every punch...She was quick. Quicker than anyone expected. No one really realized how much she had been holding back until it was all over..."

Though Alaska had tried her best not to hurt her friend, Roxxxy hadn't escaped the fight unscathed. Even with the armor protecting her from the majority of the blasts, she still required immediate medical attention to heal the burns...particularly where the earth had been completely melted from around her body. Forcing down a tense swallow, Jinkx brought her gaze back to Sharon and reiterated with every ounce of concern she held for the blonde, "If this were a real fight and she wanted to...she could have killed Roxxxy...probably in under a minute. God, you are so lucky Sharon!"

An unfamiliar wave of trepidation and queasiness began to wash over the blonde as her eyes darted to the ground. It was all she could do not to look at Jinkx at the moment. She truly hadn't understood just what a mess she nearly got herself into until the younger woman related that story to her.

The redhead found her way back to Sharon's side and upon taking one of the blonde's hands into her own, she pleaded softly, "Don't mess with her again...please. Just leave it alone and forget about it. I'll buy you a new pack myself if I have to but just...don't go near Alaska again."

There was a short pause, as if Jinkx were trying to ignore some trace of guilt before ultimately adding, "I like her, I really do but I don't want you two fighting. You're not gonna win. When she's pissed off...she could really hurt you."

Jinkx's concern had thoroughly touched Sharon. Though she might act like a hothead at times, she still was mostly rational and she could see quite clearly that Alaska was out of her league. There was little chance she would get away from another fight with as minor of an injury as she had this time. In all likelihood, it was whoever walked into the locker room at just the right time as the only reason she walked away with one singular burn.

Nodding her head in solemn understanding, Sharon promised, "I'll stay away from her...as much as I can, anyway. Her roommate is still one of our friends and I'm not abandoning her just for Alaska."

A noise of conflicting emotions escaped from the redhead as she seemed to debate herself internally as to how to respond to Sharon's declaration. With a reluctant sigh, she relented with, "Okay, just...be really careful, alright, honey?"

A reassuring smile worked its way across Sharon's face as she agreed to Jinkx's request and thanked her for helping her out. She stole a quick glance to the clock and almost smirked as she recognized the time.

Dela would soon be arriving following the end of her class and as much as she liked the other womam, she did want to give the pair their space, especially since it meant so much to them. As politely as she could, she assured Jinkx once again that she'd stay away from the other blonde to the best of her abilities and excused herself to wander back to the smoker's area. With any luck perhaps someone might still be there that she could beg for a cigarette from.

Before leaving though, she couldn't resist the urge to call out from the doorway, "Have fun with your girlfriend!"

Jinkx's cheeks were turning almost as red as her hair as she shouted after the blonde with an insistent and near cracking reply of, "She's not my girlfriend!" but the closing doorway muffled most of the noise she made.

*******

To her surprise, it was easier to avoid Alaska than Sharon had expected thanks in large part to their different class schedules. About the only times they were likely to run into each other was at lunch or at the end of day when Sharon came by the locker room door to smoke. It was simple enough to ignore each other's presence though everyone seemed to pick up right away that something had changed between the two of them. Before they had been cordial, even if a bit distant....now it was almost like a Cold War.

Sharon rather suspected at times that Willam felt conflicted as to whose side she ought to take but it seems she made no extra effort to favor one girl over the other. Oddly, Sharon was glad for that. In all she had come to really like younger woman, even if her powers would sometimes get a little out of hand if a certain blonde friend of hers happened to be around. Much like it had been with Jinkx and Dela, it was obvious to nearly everyone that Willam had a growing infatuation with Courtney, one of Alaska's closest friends, despite every attempt the dirty blonde made to hide her emotions.

She might have thought she was doing a good job of concealing her affections but anyone who knew Willam well enough could spot how nervous the blonde sometimes made her. Often the anxiety would manifest as little things like a brief stumbling over words or even playful insults that might hit a little closer to home than intended...but Sharon also noticed a few other examples. Namely that Willam's powers were more likely to activate whenever the blonde was near. Her huffs would turn into little balls of fire more frequently or her fingers would spark, particularly if she were touching something flammable. Even just a casual brush of their skin as they stood close to one another proved that Willam was just barely in control of her power. As Sharon quickly discovered one day whilst they talked with Courtney; Willam’s body had become superheated to the point where Sharon was recoiling back as her arm threatened to burn where their skin had grazed one another. It was a miracle the younger woman’s clothes weren’t beginning to smoke with how hot her skin had felt.

But despite that revelation, they never talked about it...though perhaps they should have.

But Sharon respected that Willam was a private person; if she wanted to bring it up, then she would have. And besides, it was unlikely that Sharon would have gotten very far in the conversation had she broached the topic herself.

In fact, the closest they got to addressing it thus far was when Willam appeared at her side one day in a near panic. She was supposed to meet Alaska and Courtney at the latter's greenhouse, well, the school's greenhouse she more or less had taken over, and Willam was an utter wreck. It was one of the rare moments when she allowed her anxiety to play out explicitly across her face regardless of how vulnerable it made her look. Sharon would bet anything that the dirty blonde's heart was racing in her chest as she blurted out that she was supposed to be meeting her pair of friends in just a few minutes yet already her fingers were starting to shoot off little sparks very nearly caught her clothes on fire.

Willam looked up to Sharon in a growing desperation for some kind of answer, some kind of excuse to get out having to meet Courtney and Alaska but the blonde was at a loss. The only thin trace of an idea she had was to somehow stop Willam's powers from even activating. It was too late for any deep breathing to be of any use; even if she managed to calm herself down out here with Sharon's help it was unlikely she'd remain calm in Courtney's presence. And nothing could convince Sharon to join Willam in the greenhouse, not with Alaska expected to be there...There had to be some other way...

"Throw some water on me!" Willam nearly yelled.

Almost sure she misheard the dirty blonde, Sharon gave her a quizzical look and inquired, "What?”

"Throw some water on me," Willam insisted with her impatience borderlining on panic, "I can't set anything on fire if I can't-"

Happily, Sharon redirected the water in nearby puddle to rise from its near glass-smooth position and douse the woman in front of her. Luckily it had rained a bit the night before and the air was just cool enough that this particular puddle and one or two others out in the field hadn't completely evaporated yet. Sharon supposed if they had she could have just used the water from a number of students' water bottles or even gone inside to requisition it from the taps but she argued with herself that that would have been much more work and of course, Willam needed a solution immediately...though the dirty blonde was less than pleased with how thoroughly Sharon had soaked her with the slightly muddy water.

" _Thanks,_ " she mumbled sarcastically as she wrung out her hair.

A shit-eating grin worked its way across Sharon's lips as she defended herself halfheartedly, "You asked me to."

"Right," Willam huffed out with an eye roll, which to Sharon's secret relief didn't even bring about a trace of steam or fire. If Willam hadn't looked like a drowned rat at the moment, she was sure little balls of flame would have been spat out as she muttered bitterly, "Next time, could you just get my hands or something?"

"I wanted to be thorough," Sharon reasoned as she struggled not to laugh.

Another huff was heard as Willam turned herself around to grab her bag and sling it over her sopping wet shoulder. Just under her breath, Sharon heard the dirty blonde grumbling, "Yeah. Fucking thanks...fucking bitch."

At this Sharon actually had to laugh, particularly as Willam began to waddle off uncomfortably in the direction of the greenhouse, all while trying to adjust her now clinging skirt. She had to admit, when the dirty blonde wasn't a danger to herself or her surroundings, the comical bursts of anger were almost adorable. Very similar to when Farrah would nearly throw a tantrum every time a classmate underestimated her powers and each stomp of her foot would shoot out a little jolt of energy that caused those around her to jump from the impact or just fall flat on their ass.

Much like Willam, Farrah's emotional state sometimes overrode her control of her powers though in most situations they rarely seemed to activate. It was only really when other students teased her about her expressive nature or showed doubt that she was actually skilled that her annoyance would unwittingly began to manifest into a physical form and reveal itself to those around her. Of course all this only encouraged was further rumors, untrue as they were, that she was inexperienced and ill-equipped to handle the pressures of fighting.

Sharon mused over this in a half distracted state as she lit up another cigarette and pondered over whether the water be enough to keep Willam's powers under control. She supposed if she suddenly saw smoke coming from the direction of the greenhouse that would give her an answer but then she was likely to run over and try to help...a real pain cause she had plans of her own for this afternoon.

Oh, well.

She'll stay around for half an hour or so just to make sure nothing happens.

Besides, it wasn't like Phi Phi was here yet anyway. The pair had promised to go into town that day using Phi Phi's car and pick up a few comfort items that school store was unsurprisingly lacking in. Namely junk food of the absolute worst and trashiest kind.

Though it was still a bit early, Sharon was mildly aware that the smokers area was a bit empty, at least of people she would normally chat with. But Raja was here at least and she always provided interesting, if sometimes obscure, topics to discuss. Sharon was about to make her way over to the tall brunette in question when an all too familiar figure approached from around the corner.

It certainly looked like Alaska, though for what reason she had to be here, Sharon had no clue. It had been one of the days when it was Raja's gym class that took over the fields, not Alaska's. So what the blonde could be doing back here was beyond her. Even Sharon's face showed her evident confusion...until she took note of a few key details as 'Alaska' walked closer.

"Hey, Phi," Sharon called out knowingly as an amused grin spread across her lips.

At once the smug look on 'Alaska' face dropped and was nearly immediately replaced by a pout.

"Fuck you, how'd you know it was me?" the figure demanded as blonde hair melted into a deep brunette, pale skin darkened, and the height of the woman in front of Sharon dropped dramatically. "That transformation was _perfect_!"

Taking a drag from her cigarette, Sharon left Phi Phi pouting for almost a full minute before finally answering in a definitive tone, "It was but not everything is about looks. Your whole attitude was off...Alaska's walk is confident, yours is just cocky. Could spot that stupid smirk of yours anywhere....Also your clothes don't fit her body. She's not dwarf-sized like you."

"Fuck off, you're only like two inches taller than me!" the brunette squeaked out in growing outrage.

A smug sense of undeserved pride ran through Sharon as she reminded the younger girl, "And I'll never let you forget it!"

"Bitch. You ready to go?"

"In a bit..." Sharon drawled out as she cast her eyes over in the direction of the greenhouse once more. "Just want to keep an eye on things over there for a few more minutes."

Shrugging her shoulders and tossing her bag onto the ground, Phi Phi muttered, "Whatever, that's fine."

Dropping to her knees to look through the vaguely messy belongings, the brunette shot a quick glance up to Sharon and inquired, "Hey, have you gotten a look at this worksheet for Portal Studies yet?"

"Looked over it in study hall, haven't filled it out yet though. Why?"

"I'm stuck on one of these stupid fucking word problems," the younger girl complained as she pulled out the worksheet in question. "I can't figure it out at all."

Recalling what she had read earlier, Sharon made a guess as to which word problem was likely the issue and inquired, "Which one was it? Four?"

Nodding her head, Phi Phi confirmed miserably, "Yeah."

Feeling somewhat vindicated as she too had second guessed herself the first few times she read through the worksheet, Sharon noted, "Ah. Yeah, I think that has a typo in it. Should be ‘silver nitrate’ instead of ‘nitrite’. That's why there was such a mess whenever anyone touched the powder."

Taking another drag from her cigarette and casting her line of sight to the brunette who had cocked her head to the side in confusion, Sharon explained, "The nitrate stains your skin and it's much more dangerous. Need to add...um...potassium nitrite to the mix and that would close the portal. Still need to stand clear of it though, might cause a bit of an explosion when all those chemicals interact and seal the opening."

Phi Phi's eyes widened in sudden clarity and understanding as she began to connect the dots and exclaimed, "Oh, god! Thanks! I don't know how I didn't see that! You're a fucking genius!"

Shrugging off the praise, Sharon simply suggested, "I think your eyes just skipped over the word, like the teacher's, I guess...Pretty sure that's the answer, though."

"I think you're right," Phi Phi agreed as she nodded her head and returned to her bag to pull out something to write down the answer with.

Sharon watched in amusement as the brunette practically turned everything out onto the ground in her search to find something with which to write. She very nearly laughed as the younger woman in question lamented, "Don't tell me I left the pencil sitting on the desk!"

Her hands searched through all of the pockets once more in a desperate hope that somehow she had missed said pencil somewhere but after the now third thorough examination of her belongings, it was clear that it was nowhere to be found. Taking pity on the brunette, Sharon dropped to her own bag and offered the first writing tool she found in the side pocket, "Would a pen work?"

Phi Phi gave a noise of confirmation and accepted the non-descript pen as it was handed out but her moment of triumph was short lived as a line of ink appeared for the first word then promptly faded out as she was midway through the second. Finding herself reluctantly used to things not working out today, the younger woman handed the pen back to Sharon and muttered, "Dead."

"The fuck?" the blonde mumbled in confusion. "I was just using this last period."

She glanced over the pen at various angles as if that would somehow provide an answer but as expected; it did not. She tried making a few test lines on her own skin but to her frustration even that didn't work. A weak idea popped into her head as she disassembled the item to take a closer look at the ink cartridge. True, it was low but it still ought to work at least for a few more days. She tried to use her powers to gently encourage the ink to begin flowing again but never before had she attempted to do such a thing on an object as apparently delicate as pen. Before she could even stop the flow, about half of the remaining ink came flooding out over her hands and dripped onto her shoes.

As Phi Phi snickered beside her, Sharon felt a strong sense of annoyance and mostly wounded pride. It was easy enough to pull the ink from her shoes and what little hit her pants then return it back to the cartridge but what splattered across her hands? Faster than she would have expected; most of it had dried and promptly stained her skin. Despite her attempts to wash it off with the water from friend's bottle it was clear that soap was absolutely needed in this case. Groaning, she used her cleanest hand to dig in her bag for a proper pencil and practically shoved it into Phi Phi's grasp as she took the offending ink cartridge in with her to locker room's bathroom.

She quickly tossed away the used and likely broken remains of her pen and focused on removing the ink that had now stained her skin a very recognizable shade of blue. While the soap did remove most of the ink, it was apparent that it would still take multiple scrubbings before all of the discoloration would disappear. Rolling her eyes in mild annoyance, Sharon just found herself somewhat relieved that most of the ink was gone, at least enough that it wouldn't be so obvious to anyone else.

But while the blonde busied herself with cleaning up the mess, she had little precognition that at that very moment a certain female student was currently on the war path and practically scorching the ground beneath her as she stormed across the school’s lawn. The second Alaska had spotted Willam as she chatted away with Courtney outside the greenhouse, she noticed that the dirty blonde looked very much like a drowned rat and certainly not the clean and dry young woman she had seen not even an hour prior. She rushed over in concern thinking perhaps Willam had tripped into a puddle but as she questioned the older woman she instantly saw red once an all too familiar name fell from her lips. Admittedly, Alaska heard very little of Willam's excuse for the blonde before she rushed off to find the bitch in question and demand some answers herself.

Hardly any thought other than just what she'd like to do to the woman passed through her mind as she marched across the school grounds to the area the blonde was most likely to be in. As the smoker's area came into view she felt a bit stymied and even more pissed off to find that said woman was missing from the group but like an angel answered her unspoken question itself, or perhaps even a devil, the distracted blonde walked out from the locker room and was making her way over to a short brunette Alaska hardly took notice of in this state.

Without a word, Alaska's hand began steaming as she lost what little control she currently had over her emotions and before anyone had realized it, her flaming fist connected with Sharon's cheek much in the same manner as it had several weeks prior.

But unlike last time, she refused to stop there.

The older blonde was reeling back trying to figure out just what the fuck was going on but after catching sight of Alaska's pissed off expression and burning fists, she felt her patience drop to absolute zero. Forget what Jinkx had warned her about; she was beyond irritated at the unprompted punch and she was more than ready to go toe to toe with the fire elemental.

With barely any thought other than how absolutely done she was at the moment, Sharon called forth any water in the nearby vicinity to come to her aid and surround her fists in a sheet of thick ice to match Alaska's flaming ones. There was maybe a second or two as the pair stared each other down before some of the older students, especially those familiar with Sharon, were pulling aside the younger ones and clearing out the area. From the corner of her eye, Sharon thought she saw Raja tugging a very resistant Phi Phi back inside the locker room but as another second passed, she and Alaska were face to face exchanging punch after punch.

If there was one thing from her conversation with Jinkx that Sharon recalled, it was how analytical and precise Alaska could be while fighting. Unlike Roxxxy, she wasn't going into this fight totally unprepared for her opponent; she had something of a plan, if the majority of it only consisted of blocking rather than leaving herself open to counter-attacks like the earth elemental had done.

But even after just a few minutes of the two dodging and throwing fists, bursts of fire, or sharpened sheets of ice, it was clear that Alaska had the advantage. In large part this was due to the fact that Sharon needed a constant source of water to resupply herself with ammunition as the younger blonde melted or evaporated most of it with every block or punch she threw Sharon's way.

The older woman was on the ropes and she knew it but she was hardly going down without a fight. Admittedly, her tactics started to become a bit dirty as she did her best to distract the younger blonde while she herself tried to think of something to gain the upper hand. But then as the fighting naturally found its way across the field, Sharon couldn't help but smirk at the fresh supply of water she found waiting for her. Off in the distance she could make out two large puddles containing what she hoped would be enough water to turn the tide in her favor.

Before Alaska had a chance to realize just what the other blonde was thinking of, Sharon called on the puddles to come flying towards the pair and near instantly cooling the water into a number of razor sharp icicles as she hurled them relentlessly at the taller girl. Alaska was caught off-guard for a moment but quickly regained her composure as her overwhelming anger continued to boil away inside of her. Instead of even trying to block the flying ice that was torpedoing itself at her, Alaska opted to use a much less refined but still very effective method to protect herself; namely a huge wall of fire to melt away the frozen water before it came anywhere near her.

Sharon's momentary triumph morphed into a deep-seated fear as she realized just how fucked she really was. She barely had time to create her own wall of ice to protect herself before she found Alaska rushing towards her with every intent of finally laying hands on the older woman once again. At this point Sharon was utterly lost as to what she could do; it was undeniable that Alaska was pissed and would stop at nothing to win this fight and for the first time, Sharon was purely afraid for herself. Her ice was melting away rapidly as the walls collided with a deafening hiss and near scalding water was falling onto both parties. It was all Sharon could do to hold herself together and try maintain her ice refreezing but she knew in just a few minutes of this tactic, she would be out of any more water to defend herself with.

Her mind flashed to the sprinkler system that ran beneath the ground and she strongly considered forcing the water to come rushing through the pipes to her aid. It might help distract Alaska enough for her to get away but at this time all she was able to spare her attention on was maintaining the shaky control she had over her rapidly melting wall.

In what was very near a panic as the younger woman glared at her through the barriers of fire and ice, Sharon demanded to know, "What the fuck is your problem?!?"

"You!" Alaska screamed in response through hissing bursts of superheated steam. "You're my fucking problem! I saw what you did to Willam! How the fuck-"

"She asked me to, you fucking bitch!" the older blonde bawled right back. There was little doubt in Sharon's mind that Alaska had jumped to the wrong conclusion as she saw Willam's sopping wet figure but how to get Alaska to realize her mistake was beyond her.

Almost as if to prove that point, Alaska argued fiercely, "Why the fuck would she ask you to do that to her? To spray her with mud and-"

Having enough and feeling her control slowly slipping away, Sharon yelled back in irritation, "Why the fuck do you think? Unlike you, what's the one thing she can't do when she's soaking wet?"

That last question caught the young blonde somewhat off guard, if her expression was all Sharon had to judge by. There was a moment of absolute confusion spreading across the taller woman's face as she paused to give serious thought, even if just for a second. When Alaska finally came to an answer, her voice was markedly quieter as she noted in a slow realization, "She can't...use her powers..."

"No fucking shit," the older blonde spat out as her eyes rolled.

In spite of both women's still overwhelming flurry of emotions, there was a moment of mutual understanding as each relaxed their posture and allows the walls exhibiting their respective elements collapse away into nothing. But despite Alaska gradually coming to wrap her head around Sharon's point, she still demanded in a huff, "Why would she not want to use them? She shows them off all the time!"

Shocked and exasperated, the older blonde squeaked out in disbelief, "Are you really that fucking stupid? Or are you just oblivious?"

Alaska's face showed evident annoyance but to Sharon's secret relief she didn't try to reactivate her powers and resume the fight. She just crossed her arms defensively and waited with a scowl as the older blonde continued on to stress, "She's not showing them off! She can't control them! She does everything she can to hide that! Haven't you ever _noticed_?"

The final word was like a stab in the gut to the younger woman. She knew she wasn't always the quickest on the uptake but she prided herself in how she always put her friends first. How she always tried to keep the peace between them and take note of the little things regarding each of their personalities. Yet somehow despite Willam being one of her closest friends...she had missed this...if Sharon was telling the truth after all.

Sputtering in near disbelief, Alaska struggled to ask, "Wha-Why didn't she-"

"You made such a big deal about going to the greenhouse and seeing Courtney that she felt like there was no way out of it!" Sharon interrupted her in a clear condescending tone. "She ran over here scared out of her mind and begged me to help her. She doesn't want to lose control in front of you two! She's terrified of hurting someone or destroying what Courtney's been working so hard on..."

Shaking her head sadly, Sharon look up at the troubled and miserable expression spreading across the young woman’s face and in a decidedly softer, kinder voice, she asked almost rhetorically, "But you never realized, did you?"

Alaska was struggling to bite back a growing wave of tears in her eyes for misjudging her friend so badly. She had brought on this situation herself, she realized. No one else....It was all her fault this had happened.

"No, I...I didn't," she confessed guiltily.

"She's my friend, too," Sharon reminded her softly as a strange wave of pity for the young blonde spread through her chest. "I was just trying to help her."

"I'm sorry," Alaska apologized in absolute misery.

She needed to do something to make this right, for both Willam and Sharon. But what?

She had no clue right now.

Shrugging her shoulders in defeat, Sharon opted to drive the conversation away from these harsh revelations and mentioned almost conversationally, "I'm going to the nurse's station. You coming or what?"

Even before the taller blonde answered in confirmation, Sharon was beginning to cross the field back to where her bag laid forgotten by the locker room door. Very cautiously a number of people were beginning to appear but Sharon paid them no mind. Her biggest concern, now that she had enough attention to spare on it, was on relieving the sharp and all too familiar ache that had overtaken her cheek...as well as a few other injuries. Though as the pair walked silently towards the health services office, Sharon felt a sickly sense of pride that she had done quite a bit of damage to Alaska as well...for what little notice the younger woman spared on it. She seemed to be thoroughly wrapped up in her own head as she tried to come to terms with all of her misconceptions.

Pushing open the door to the office, the redhead was unsurprisingly not in sight so Sharon immediately called out, "Jinkx?"

"Just a minute!" came the vaguely muffle response from deep within the back of the infirmary. "I need to clean up this mess real quick!"

Begrudgingly accepting the answer, Sharon sat herself down in one of the waiting chairs and found herself near immediately feeling drained of all energy. That fight, though brief, had really taken a lot of her and now she had become hyper aware of just how much her muscles were protesting any additional movement.

Strangely Alaska seemed to be handling the aftermath much better. She wandered around the office space taking in all of the little details and again it dawned on Sharon that the blonde probably spent very little time here...unlike herself. As Alaska's gaze drew across a glass cabinet, she became mortifyingly aware of just how much of a mess she looked. Her hair was absolutely tangled and well on its was to showing the natural waves she tried so hard to tame. Running her fingers through the locks, she smoothed down what she could and then focused on pulling a number of select pieces through two of her fingers.

Finding her interest piqued at the behavior, Sharon soon realized that Alaska was actually superheating the heating the space between her fingers in order to create a makeshift straightener. Thoroughly impressed, she complimented, "That's a pretty cool trick."

Smiling almost shyly, Alaska quickly darted her eyes away from the reflection of the older blonde's intrigued ones and mentioned, "Thanks...took forever to learn how to do it right."

Another minute passed before a mildly distracted Jinkx came waltzing into the main office drying her hands on one of the cheap disposable paper towels. She only seemed to think Sharon was in the room as she noted casually, "All right, got it taken care of, now what's-Sharon!"

As soon as the redhead got a good look at the state the older woman had come here in Jinkx dropped the paper towel to the floor and rushed over to examine the blonde. Immensely worried, she asked, "Oh, God! Baby, what happened to you?"

Slightly embarrassed by the showy display of concern in front of another student, one she barely even knew, Sharon grumbled, "Alaska fucking sucker-punched me as I came out the locker room."

Rolling her eyes and scoffing, Jinkx immediately set to healing the painful looking burn and shot back a meaningful, "Well, I'm sure you deserved it for whatever you did to piss her off again. I told you not to mess with her, didn't I?"

Indignified, Sharon let out an offended gasp but before she could say anything in her defense, Alaska piped up with a shame-filled, "Actually, she didn't do anything wrong. It was all me."

The young woman's eyes connected with Sharon's and immediately the blonde could see the sincere remorse as Alaska apologized once more, "I'm sorry."

Not realizing the woman in question had been standing there all along, let alone so nearby, Jinkx jumped at the sound of her voice then almost immediately tutted in disapproval as she took note of the disheveled state the younger blonder was in.

"Oh and look at _you,_ " the redhead lamented as her eyes scanned Alaska's body and the various cuts and other injuries that had developed. "You two really did a number on each other, huh? Take a seat...I'll be done with her in another minute or two."

The rest of the appointment went rather like a blur as Jinkx spent her time cooing and consoling both women who by now were incredibly tired and drained. Every so often, particularly as she cleaned away the smeared blood and dirt, she would direct a halfhearted scolding comment towards the pair but ultimately just seemed glad that their differences were more or less resolved...at least enough to be in the same room without being at each other's throats.

Only 20 minutes later the pair was sent on their way, at Jinkx's insistence, to RuPaul's head office. They intended to confess to Michelle first before any other teacher heard the gossip of what happened and came to collect them. With any luck, they hoped, by turning themselves in they would managed to escape some of the inevitable punishment and avoid the headmistress' full wrath. But before they dared to enter the office, Alaska took another glance at both herself and rather guiltily, the damage she had inflicted on Sharon. True, the physical injuries were gone but whether the older blonde realized it or not; part of her hair had been burnt and a few centimeters were clearly missing in one area.

Taking a tense, heavy swallow, Alaska pulled Sharon into the bathroom closest to the office and offered, "If you want...I can trim your hair for you...where it’s burned and all."

A flash of mistrust briefly appeared in the pit of Sharon's stomach but as she studied evidently eager and genuine offer, she hesitantly accepted Alaska's proposal. At this point there was probably little that could be done to make her hair look worse and if anything, appearing as clean and respectful as possible before Michelle might help soften her anger once she hears about the damage to the school's lawn.

Turning away from the disheveled reflection in the mirror, Sharon stood tensely and somewhat shakily as Alaska carefully drew a superheated nail along Sharon's hair in order to trim away the singed edges and even out the hairline. Though she would still need a professional stylist to help give life to her new haircut, Sharon had to admit the end result did look a lot better than how it appeared only half an hour ago.

Following a moment of expressing gratitude for the small gesture, the pair continued on with their dreaded visit to vice-principal. As luck would have it, calls were just beginning to pour in from various teachers who heard about the scrap and had begun to investigate who all had been involved. With the appearance and confession from both parties, Michelle's job was made that much easier and she could finally start telling the staff that she had all the information she needed to handle the situation. Calling out to the secretary to screen any other calls for the next hour or so, Michelle closed her office door and set to hearing out both sides of the story. She was surprisingly patient as each woman corroborated what she suspected was a rather censored version of the fight but to her mild shock, Alaska tried to accept the full blame for the brawl.

Judging by both kids’ version of the events, it certainly sounded like she was the lone instigator, but even still, Sharon wasn't going to let her take all of the punishment. As the pair began bickering over how much responsibility each should accept, Michelle cut in with her own decision.

"A week of detention for both of you and Alaska you will have two additional days of in-school suspension," Michelle declared diplomatically.

Very meekly, Alaska agreed, "That's fair."

"Also," the school's second-in-command added, "I want you both to reach out _today_ to Courtney, Shangela, or any other student that might be able to help repair the lawn and field. I haven't seen the extent of the damages you caused but I expect that by tomorrow, they will be cleaned up and left as good as or better than they did this morning. Is that clear?"

The girls nodded their heads in agreement and immediately rushed off to find the most likely student who would be able to assist them immediately. Sharon for one thought that they had gotten off rather easily with their punishments. Though she would have to adjust her smoke breaks for the next couple of days, the other alternative could have been much worse. It was a good thing Michelle was fair unlike a certain headmistress would probably would have suspended both of them without a second thought.

*******

A few days passed and news of their fight had spread throughout the student body faster than a flame overtaking a dry field. The rumors hardly bothered Sharon but every so often the students would give her odd looks as though they weren't sure if she were crazy or just plain stupid for fighting with a fire elemental known to be so powerful. One morning Sharon found herself pondering over that very topic when a certain blonde came running up the dormitory's sidewalk in order to catch her.

To say she was surprised would have been an understatement. Aside from when they called upon Courtney and Shangela to help regrow the grass they had ruined, the two hadn't really spoken to one another. Yet here was Alaska looking just a bit flustered and anxious as she tried to wave down the distracted blonde.

"Sharon!" she called out as she overtook the older woman while she made her way towards the school grounds, puffing away at her morning cigarette. Finally catching up, she slowed her pace to match Sharon's lazy one and toyed with the ring on one of her fingers. Her stomach was twisting as the shorter blonde glanced up at her expectantly and waited for an explanation. Feeling just a bit embarrassed once more, Alaska spoke gently, "I just...I wanted to apologize again."

"It's fine-" Sharon began before being cut off by Alaska shaking her head and suddenly reaching into her bag in a mad search for something.

"No, I-Um..." feeling her fingers brush against the item she was searching for, Alaska sheepishly pulled out a new pack of cigarettes and practically thrust it into Sharon's clumsy grasp. "I got this for you...to replace the ones I...burned the other week."

Nearly suspicious of the gesture and almost certainly the quality of the product, Sharon scrutinized the packaging for only a moment before recognizing it as one of her favorite brands. Immediately her face lit up and she found herself exclaiming in gratitude, "Thanks!"

"Don't mention it," Alaska replied as she tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ears and tossed her bag back over her shoulder. She actually spent more effort than she cared to admit in finding just the right pack for the older woman. Alaska had actually bribed Willam to come into town with her and help her pick out a product she knew Sharon would be happy to smoke. The dirty blonde had grumbled about it, having her own plans for that afternoon, but easily gave in after learning the intention behind the gift. As much as it surprised Alaska herself, she truly did want to make peace with the other girl and this would be a good first step as she extended that olive branch.

Trying to summon the courage to take her newfound desire just a little bit further, Alaska's eyes darted to the ground as she spoke nervously, "Listen...do you want to...maybe eat lunch at my table today? You know, just talk for a bit? Willam will be there. And Courtney! And-"

A smirk grew across Sharon's painted lips as the younger blonde began rambling but for Alaska's sake, she quickly accepted with a sincere tone of understanding, "Sounds good. Mind if I bring Phi Phi though?"

Lighting up at knowledge her offer was accepted so easily, Alaska beamed and declared, "Not at all!"

From that day forward the pair had begun spending quite a bit of time together. It was slow at first, starting with lunch at the same table, idle chatter as Sharon and Willam smoked before Willam would join Alaska in some extracurricular training (finally) but then without either really noticing it, it became a regular thing to head over to each other's dorms following their classes. To spend time in the common rooms talking with friends or just by themselves. For casual brushes of the hand to become lingering fingers they almost begged to have remain on their skin for just a second longer.

It felt natural and fluid when their newfound friendship shifted into something deeper, something more intimate than either would have thought possible at the beginning of the school year. It came as little surprise to their group of friends, now merged into one, when they announced that they had started dating...though someone may have been heard muttering how it was 'about time'.

The two were perfectly and genuinely happy and as either would gladly point out, if it hadn't been for their very first catfight, they probably never would have found their way together. Because after all, if that scuffle had led to _this_ , why wouldn't it be worth it to experience that minor set back once again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thank you Saiph for beta-ing!


	4. Witney

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is biadore!
> 
> and thank you @veronicasanders for beta-ing!

Willam's arrival at the beginning of the semester was a bit...dull. Of course, that was to be expected after all. The headmistress kept a tight schedule and any deviation was likely to annoy her. So, it felt much like business as usual when Willam arrived to the campus, joined the upcoming semester's round of new students and was sent on her way with her room assignment, a map of the campus, and a wish of 'Good luck.'

Much like Ru; Michelle liked things to run smoothly as well but at the times they didn't, which seemed to be more often than not, she still handled the stress with relative ease and remained good-natured for the sake of the students and faculty. As some of the new students had to travel quite a distance to find their way to the school, Michelle scheduled their arrivals over a one week period following the mid-term or end of year exams. The hope was that they'd come to the campus in controlled batches and any incidents in the dormitories would be kept to an absolute minimum. It also allowed the new students a chance to get to know their roommates and hopefully the school grounds as well before classes started.

Willam herself arrived towards the beginning of the week and was promptly assigned to live with another seasoned fire elemental. Michelle actually seemed rather proud of this match up she made, especially after she received word of Willam's unique brand of flaunting her powers. She had high hopes that Alaska would help round out the Willam's rougher edges or at least keep her from catching various objects on fire as had become her habit since her powers began to manifest.

Alaska herself took the news of her new roommate quite well and rushed over to the school's main office to meet her following the mandatory orientation. Most upperclassmen usually let fate decide when they'd actually get around to meeting the new enrollees but Alaska was beyond excited and couldn't wait to see who she'd be living with. In her first year, she’d been paired with another fire elemental who excelled at teaching her about patience and control with her powers and now she longed for the opportunity to repay that gesture with another student.

Despite the mistrustful gaze present on her new roommate’s face as they introduced themselves, by the time the two actually arrived at their dorm room they were well on their way to becoming fast friends. They found they had a similar sense of humor as Alaska casually commented on the social life present on campus and Willam found she was actually drawn to the way Alaska seemed so easy-going and confident in herself. Her smile was bright and relaxed all at the same time and it helped ease the nerves Willam tried so hard to hide as they made their way across the campus grounds. Even her roommate’s laughter proved to be quite infectious as she recounted a number of mishaps that she had seen when the last group of students moved in a few months ago.

As the pair walked to their dormitory, Alaska was quick to offer assistance with the sizeable amount of luggage Willam had brought with her. It was very nearly too much for one person to haul on their own but with the help of a second person, the baggage became much more manageable. Alaska was quite eager to help with all aspects of integrating Willam into campus life, though her fondness for training became very evident as she excitedly pointed out the sparring grounds as they walked to their living quarters. It was clear she wanted Willam to start accompanying her once she was settled in, perhaps in a week or so, but Willam remained vague on her commitment. Showing off already how poorly she controlled her powers, if it could be called that, was not high on her to-do list. Even just a glimpse of the training grounds caused a shameful lurch to appear in the pit of her stomach...she couldn’t even begin to imagine what might manifest if she actually stepped foot in those sparring rings any time soon.

But almost as quickly as they entered their dorm room, Alaska dumped the luggage onto Willam’s bed and ushered her off to the dining hall for lunch. Following that short break, the rest of the day proceeded normally; Willam found homes for all of her belongings that afternoon and then Alaska began to show her around the campus. They made plans to visit the town a bit later, possibly even save it for the weekend, but there was already plenty to see on the school grounds as it was. The next three days were spent exploring the areas closest to the school. The training grounds were one of their first stops despite Willam’s heavy reluctance, the fields for sports and sparring next, a brief tour of the nature trails in the woods surrounding the school, and then gradually they worked their way around to the academic building itself. It was massive, Willam had to admit, but that was to be expected. Never mind the _number_ of students, a vast amount of the grounds were simply dedicated to various structures to aid them in learning about their powers as well as for the staff to study portals, other worlds, and even what managed to come through from both. In every regard this was a primarily academic campus.

It was on their second day that Willam finally met Courtney.

Alaska had been explaining some of the scattered buildings around the campus as they crossed through the lawn when she spotted a lone student walking from the direction of the greenhouse. The timing couldn't have been better, Alaska thought as she tugged Willam along in order to cover the distance before her friend was out of sight. She had meant to introduce the two all along but as to when would have been a bit of a guess. Most days, Courtney was usually busy with something related to the greenhouse; whether it be tending to the plants, collecting samples in other worlds, cataloguing new arrivals, or even transplanting across the campus. It usually was a hit or miss if Courtney would be in whenever Alaska stopped by to chat or drop off notes from their few shared classes. But regardless Courtney was still one of her closest friends and she was longing to introduce the pair. She had high hopes that the two would hit it off as well as Courtney and Alaska had themselves. Besides, if anyone Alaska knew could handle Willam’s rambunctious personality, it would have to be Courtney.

As they grew near and Alaska was able to draw Courtney's attention, it became very clear she wasn't quite her usual composed self. Her hair looked rather like it had gone through a wind tunnel and smears of something powdery in yellow and red was splattered across her skin and clothes. Once Alaska was even closer she noticed little bits of miscellaneous plant parts clinging to Courtney's hair.

"What happened to _you_?" she asked incredulously as she took in the damage.

Laughing it off with a carefree wave of the hand, Courtney gave a bright smile and replied, "Bit of an accident in the greenhouse. Not that big a deal. I’m just heading back to the dorm to clean up a little before finishing up in there."

Willam was struck by the out of place accent but as she was trying to decipher where this overly cheerful girl originated from, Alaska had begun questioning her in a knowing tone, "You and Shangela working on some new project again?"

Courtney gave a sort of noncommittal noise and replied tentatively, "Mm, kind of. You remember about two weeks ago that trip we went on to, um...DWJ-08?"

Not a world Willam was familiar with but judging by the look on Alaska's face, it seemed she couldn't quite recall many details either. Musing to herself for a moment in consideration or at least attempting to recollect the events of the excursion itself, Alaska eventually offered up, "Mm...Oh, that was the one with um...the daisy flowers, right?"

"Like a rafflesia cross-bred with witch hazel," Courtney supplied hesitantly as she tried and failed to come up with a better analogy.

Either way, the description sparked a memory for her friend and Alaska's face lit up as she finally recollected, "Ah, yeah, I remember! Hot as hell and rained most of the time."

Nodding her head in agreement, Courtney continued on to explain, "Well, the samples we brought back started flowering a few days ago so Shangela asked Laganja to come by and raise a light wind to spread around the pollen. Kinda like what happens out in the jungle but there that's usually by insects or animals-"

As the blonde trailed off on some sort of tangent, Willam nudged Alaska and whispered, "'Laganja?"

"Air elemental," the younger woman murmured in response, "Nicknamed for obvious reasons...Can't even remember her real name any more."

"Mm," Willam noted as she pondered over the information. She'd have to catch up with this girl at some point in the near future. Even if she didn’t sell, at the very least she would know who does and _that_ was a piece of information Willam was definitely interested in. But for now her attention was drawn back to the prattling blonde who finally seemed to be arriving at the point to her story, "Well, all was fine till Alyssa popped in about an hour ago. She was talking with both of them and...you know how _that_ goes."

"Carrying on again?" Alaska supplied as an amused grin formed at the thought.

"Mh-mm," Courtney confirmed, smiling at the memory of the three chattering away with one another. The trio often acted much like bickering siblings yet strangely enough, Alyssa and Shangela had actually begun dating sometime last year. It was odd they ended up together, most thought their relationship was purely platonic, but they seemed quite happy with one another regardless. They could often be found in each other’s company, for better or worse. Whether it’d be Shangela trying to keep Alyssa out of trouble or Alyssa pulling her girlfriend along for some outing that almost inevitably would end up with them receiving some kind of lecture from Michelle once it got out of hand, they never seemed to be far away from each other for very long. But it was clear they cared for each other very deeply despite their frequently differing opinions or flaring of tempers.

As Courtney ran through these observations in her mind, she informed Alaska of the incident that led to the latest round of bickering between the pseudo-siblings, "’Ganja was telling us how Alyssa freaked out in their gym class last month when a portal opened up on the edge of the field. Something came out of it almost right away, I guess, and she flipped."

Alyssa was known to get a bit freaked out by most animals from their own world so when others found their way here? It was usually an ordeal and her freaking out was to be almost expected.

Laughing a little as she remembered that bit of gossip from a few weeks ago, Alaska added in, "Yeah, I heard that story. Roxxxy said it was only the size of a cat though."

Courtney couldn't stop herself from giving a snorting laugh as a very distinct voice from just a few minutes ago echoed in her mind. She could practically still hear and picture the wide-eyed expression on Alyssa's face as she had insisted, "A big cat... _huge_."

Langanja was quick to roll her eyes as she continued manipulating the wind she rose, and shot back, "Girl, stop being so dramatic! It was _not_ that big and wasn't even doing nothing. Just walking around and shit."

But that comment had been rather calculated to dig under Alyssa's skin and quite predictably she fell into defending herself adamantly. A small shudder ran up Courtney's spine at reliving the events once more but for Alaska's benefit, she mentioned lightly, "Either way, they started squabbling and Alyssa got all worked up again. She went on ranting about some of the stupid shit Langanja was busted for last week; getting caught smoking in the bathroom with Gia or something or maybe it was the locker room. Did you hear about that? Anyway, Shangela tried calming her down but Laganja just _had_ to cut in again and...Well, she ended up getting distracted and hitting me with a load of pollen and God knows what else."

That seemed to be a bit of an understatement but while Alaska wasn't inclined to comment on that exactly, Willam found herself scoffing and rolling her eyes. She was getting a bit bored by the high-speed rambling but hopefully 'Story Time with Courtney' was nearly over. She was almost itching to see the rest of the campus if only to work off some kind of the odd, nervous energy that had built up inside of her.

With a beaten sigh, Courtney shrugged her shoulders and tried to excuse herself, "I'm gonna see if I can salvage anything out of my hair and clothes before it all gets washed down the drain. I'll see you at dinner."

"Good luck!" Alaska called out with warm smile. But Courtney had barely begun turning towards the direction of the dormitories before Alaska remembered her reason for coming over. Quickly recalling her friend’s attention, Alaska hurriedly interjected, "Oh, before you go, wanted to introduce you two real quick."

A curious smile found its way to Courtney's lips as she realized she actually had not yet met Alaska's companion yet. Often times she found the younger blonde floating between random groups of friends, so much than Courtney only knew about half of them, but this particular woman was not one she remembered seeing around the school before. Her interest was piqued as she heard Alaska mentioning, "Willam, this is Courtney. Courtney, this is Willam. She's my new roommate."

Quickly recovering her manners, Courtney shot the restless looking young woman a bright and cheerful smile as she extended her hand. It was accepted with a distinct air of impatience as Courtney greeted her new acquaintance warmly, "Nice to meet you!"

"You too..." Willam replied tentatively. As their hands touched something unusual happened. Willam could feel her fingers growing hot for an unknown reason and strangely, so were her cheeks. Even the lightest brush of their skin had her heart's pace beginning to pick up.

But there was hardly a moment for her to take notice as she caught sight of a sudden movement from amidst Courtney’s shoulder-length locks. Unknown to the plant elemental, something green and twisty was beginning to emerge between the tangled waves and knots deep within her hair. It looked almost like a miniature vine was sprouting out of nowhere as it rapidly gained mass and seemed to accelerate through its life cycle. Startled by the sudden appearance of the greenery, Willam shot the oblivious woman a strange look and muttered, "Um, your hair, girl."

Surprised, Courtney's hand flew up to touch her head as she automatically questioned, "What?"

Upon coming into contact with the still growing plant, which now seemed to be producing some kind of series of small flowers, Courtney found her spirits lifting as she gave the tense young woman a delighted word of gratitude, "Oh, thanks! Good catch."

Then inspiration struck her and her eyes grew comically wide as an exuberant smile stretched across her lips. This was the perfect way to salvage the plant pieces that had been blown onto her person without risking any damage to them. Excited about her new idea, Courtney let out an eager squeal, "Oh! _That's_ what I can do! I need Shangela!"

And with that she turned heel and ran straight back to the greenhouse as Willam and Alaska were left standing in place looking after her. Willam was puzzled by all that took place and even a little alarmed as she noticed the tips of her fingers beginning to spit out a small shower of sparks. Hastily brushing them against her pant legs, she glanced up to see Alaska’s highly amused reaction as she watched Courtney dashing off out of sight. Seems this was rather normal behavior for Courtney, she figured.

"Fun, right?" Alaska asked proudly as they continued on with the tour of the grounds.

Still unsure of what to make of the strange plant elemental, Willam muttered, "She's something."

******

To say Willam was a bit perplexed by Courtney was an understatement. She just couldn't get a handle on Courtney's personality at first; alternating between being rather suspicious of her, to finding that she actually did like her on occasion. Courtney’s behavior was confusing...she'd never go out of her way to say something negative about another person yet she was close friends with a few other students who could easily fit the bully mold or at the very least were of the incredibly sarcastic variety. But although she never really started with the snide comments, Willam found that Courtney could keep up with it quite well, often trading friendly jabs with Bianca on the rare instances when the snarky theater enthusiast joined them for lunch.

The first time Willam had let such a comment slip around Courtney, Willam found herself watching with interest as to what the plant elemental would do. She expected her to get offended, and in truth Courtney did pretend to be, but just as Willam finally thought she got a grasp on Courtney’s personality, the older girl threw her for a loop and began dishing the comments right back. She easily kept pace with Willam's offbeat remarks, almost lazily adding on to each one as she smiled away in amusement from across the table. It was here Willam found herself getting truly frustrated for the first time in a long while. For every jab she dared to make, testing the waters just a little more each time, Courtney just brushed it all off until Willam finally gave up after her fingers were threatening to spark again. One such exchange concerned their clothing choices for the school day with Willam remarking that of the trio, she was always dressed the most fashionably.

Without missing a beat, Courtney remarked with a placid grin, “Well, if I have to be the pretty one of the group, might as well let you dress the cutest.”

The comment caught her so off guard that she stumbled for a response. A reaction that certainly was not lost on Courtney as she challenged rather unsuccessfully for Willam to come up with any kind of witty retort. Feeling her mind draw a complete blank, Willam was left trying to smother the sparking of her hands as she quickly changed the topic.

That was a feeling she found herself becoming reluctantly accustomed to as they got to know one another. All would go well at first but then out of nowhere some little thing would set Willam off and she felt her skin beginning to overheat.

There were plenty of times when she would end up getting flustered, either by Courtney or something else, and she found herself huffing out little bursts of flame as she spoke. Soon she became known for the behavior but to her immense relief everyone simply assumed it was intentional...though she suspected that one of her new and closest friends actually knew the truth.

Finding Sharon had been almost like a god-send. Though Willam genuinely liked Alaska, she still felt she had to curb her behavior a bit around her roommate. Alaska was an exceptionally talented fire elemental, even earning rare praise from the headmistress herself for her seemingly effortless control. Willam was a stark contrast to that and it was a trait she'd become painfully aware of. Deep down she knew Alaska wouldn't judge her but still she found she couldn't bear to admit such a thing to her roommate, even if said person was more than willing to assist with training. It felt akin to admitting defeat every time she thought about asking Alaska for additional help...though Willam was powerful on her own, the lack of control, especially when emotions become involved, was embarrassing. She wanted as few people to know about it and even Sharon was a bit too much.

Though Sharon never said a word, it was clear she was paying special attention to Willam's little 'quirks' as they came to be known throughout the school. The fire elemental in question found herself becoming hyper aware every time a little spark or burst of flame escaped from her person around a certain blonde. She tried to hide it but as she began spending more time with Courtney, it became increasingly harder to do so.

Quite to Willam's surprise, she discovered that deep down she actually did like Courtney's personality. Even if Courtney would chide her for certain remarks, Willam found herself craving the attention, good or bad, that she received. She loved the instances when she was able to get a rise out of the plant elemental. Before long she had even made it a game to see just how far she could push Courtney until her calm demeanor cracked.

It all began with a few jabs here and there as she got a feel for what would annoy Courtney the most. Then as she picked up on the subjects she was most touchy about, Willam would really begin to sink in her claws. Backhanded comments were an expected form of conversation before long, usually to Willam's pleasure, earning an exaggerated eye roll but ensuring that Courtney's focus was strictly on _her_.

After awhile Willam would get bored as Courtney began to brush off the remarks, so naturally it was then time to really push the boundaries. The friendly jabs turned a little more cutting and as each one dug under the older girl's skin a little more, Willam felt unable to stop...at least until someone stepped in or she took it too far. She got some kind of sick joy out of seeing Courtney finally getting worked up but all too often she ended up overdoing it. At times it was difficult to tell if Courtney was genuinely annoyed or just acting that way so that Willam would calm down. Far too frequently, Willam would read misread the signs and think Courtney was just pretending when in fact she did have issue with whatever comment was just said.

Once Willam realized that she had managed to irritate her friend, usually via an off-color remark that’d butt heads with Courtney’s passion for social justice, her stomach would turn and of course her anxiety would begin to manifest. She'd huff a little more, shooting out licks of fire as she became irritated that Courtney was 'acting like such a baby' but all that did was earn her the contempt of a number of her peers. They thought she was callous and rude when in fact the reality was that she was torn apart by Courtney's reaction.

More than once guilt ate away at her and she'd end up seeking out Courtney as soon as she was able to. Usually by that time Courtney forgot what had happened and Willam was left awkwardly trying to hide her embarrassment. It worried her that Courtney could so easily brush everything off after a few hours while her heart constricted around itself until she was sick to her stomach. Then of course she'd just get irritated with her reaction and blow her off until Courtney came running to her side.

That was an endless cycle it seemed; Willam would become so caught up in her own emotions that she'd lash out yet again at the very person she longed to be near. Courtney would almost always be the one to bridge the gap Willam created, either with thoughtful compliments, confused but genuine apologies, or even simply staying by Willam's side until she calmed down and got over herself.

Courtney was always better at reading Willam than vice versa and that struck her as quite unfair. Courtney was like a bright, cheerful ray of light while she was just a bitter shadow shrinking away under Courtney's natural warmth. But Courtney would never let her hide away for long; she sought out Willam as eagerly as the fire elemental seemed drawn to her. Despite their differences, they couldn't remain apart for very long. Just being in the same room was enough to fill that need to be close because as much as Courtney hated to say it, that was usually as close as they got.

She tried to touch the younger woman, to hug her as she did with all her friends, but Willam actively recoiled from the affection. She didn't used to be like that, in fact, prior to her powers manifesting Willam was quite good at tolerating that kind of affection from her friends, but now that she was a fire elemental? She was terrified of accidentally hurting someone...especially Courtney. It was almost like a sick joke that she longed to spend time with the plant elemental; Courtney’s pride and joy being so easily flammable and ready to be consumed by Willam's with just the slightest spark.

Willam wasn't sure if she could live with herself if she ever hurt one of her friends.

This was why she actively avoided visiting Courtney in her greenhouse despite the occasional invitations.

Courtney had meant it to be friendly; she was so proud of all she, Shangela and the other students had done that she wanted to show it off...particularly because she was the one that took charge of it last year. At first it had been much more sparse, more like additional training or storage room rather than area for study. All that had been growing in the greenhouse were local plant species; hardly anything interesting or unique unless it arrived by random chance or a student brought it in themselves.

But then Courtney stumbled upon a hidden grove of plants that must have been deposited after some random portal opened up many years ago. She's been off walking through the nature trails of the school while practicing with her mastery over plant growth when she accidentally ended up clearing away a long forgotten path.

When Courtney stumbled upon the spot, she had been randomly testing her powers on the various plants, forcing them to fast forward through their life cycles and then spring up again entirely young and anew. In that particular area, she bent the bushes and vines to her will; tendrils rapidly multiplying and fragrant blossoms springing up from the bush. Then as if it were fall, it all began to wilt away and petals faded to nothing, leaves lost their luster as they shriveled in on themselves and dropped to the ground. Courtney almost let the cycle continue until the plants regained their health like they would every spring but the now exposed path caught her eye in the background.

Curious, she left the plants looking half dead as she pushed her way between them and followed the severely overgrown trail. Vaguely she wondered how long it had been since anyone walked down this path but after nearly 20 minutes of hiking deeper into the forest, she found herself entering a small clearing near one of the edges of the woods. The trees had become far less dense so smaller plants had the opportunity to thrive in the open areas, though admittedly quite clustered. Wildflowers were beginning to pop up and before long Courtney discovered a species that was certainly not native to her world...

Growing much like ivy, she found a dense mass of thin stems with leaves large and small shooting off at each of the individual segments. That alone wasn't quite unusual, except that was different from every other plant commonly found in the forest. No, what really caught Courtney's eye were the colors...the top of the leaves were a deep emerald green on the older and larger samples while the younger ones were a dark blue-green. But as Courtney stepped closer she found that what she had at first mistaken for shadows was actually evidence of the leaves’ unusual underside; a vibrant version of royal purple that seemed to darken as the plant aged. Using these small clues, Courtney trained her graze to focus on the darker patches and found that at most, this covering of perhaps five or six square feet of land could all be traced to maybe three individual plants.

It was utterly impressive that it grew to such a size but Courtney found herself curious...what if a piece broke off?

Would it continue to grow and develop its own root system or would it simply die off?

Giving into that burning question, she carefully separated one of the younger offshoots and laid it on the ground. Almost nervously she exercised her powers on both the main plan and the newly detached portion. In the time Courtney would have equated to about a week, yet for her only two minutes or so, the freshly cut plant was growing the beginnings of a new root system before her very eyes. The little white tendrils worked their way into the soil and once there an entirely new shoot rose up from beneath the ground. For several inches it grew straight as a pole and then collapsed under its weight and fell to the ground but even there it did not stop. It wound itself around and produced segment after segment with those brilliant colors fast forwarding through their life cycle. Even the original section Courtney had used was growing marvelously. At almost the same rate as it's twin, it sped through its leaf and stem production until they were about the same length.

And then the main plant?

It shriveled up a bit where Courtney had cut it but that was to be expected...then quite quickly it formed a second offshoot very near where the first piece was cut off and began growing completely undeterred.

It was utterly fascinating and Courtney just had to take a sample back with her. But before she could dig out her newly grown section, a flash of dark orange caught her eye in the distance. Growing around the base of a tree was yet another invasive species from another world. This time it was a cluster of small flowers barely even a centimeter while in full bloom yet completely covering the mass of chartreuse greenery surrounding the tree's trunk. If she looked even closer the orange was not the only color in the flower; very close to the center there was a darker shade...a garnet red that must have acted like a beacon to draw insects to flower's center.

Overwhelmed, Courtney cast her gaze around again and off in the distance was yet another foreign plant. She quickly worked out that there must be some kind of intermittent portal nearby that dropped off these visitors who somehow found that they could adapt to their new home. She wondered how many other species might be nearby but that would require a greater effort to search for them...she needed Shangela at the very least to assist her.

Excitedly, Courtney plucked her sample from the ground, along with a handful of dirt, and ran back to the greenhouse. As she potted her new plant, she texted Shangela to come meet her immediately and once her friend arrived they were off like a shot to see the headmistress. Shangela shared Courtney’s enthusiasm and ached to be able to see the grove as well but first they had to make sure they could use the greenhouse as a storage space for all the specimens they hoped to collect. Ru wasn’t as thrilled as her students about the discovery but agreed to let them do as they wished following some helpful encouragement from Michelle. She fully supported the girls’ desire to study the species so long as they were sure to document everything and of course, remain safe in the process. Each promised to do their best and before the sun had set that day, the greenhouse had been cleaned and prepped in order to receive its new arrivals.

The following day Courtney and Shangela organized an effort with a few other students to search the grove and collect any specimens they could find. It took the entire morning and most of the afternoon but no less than 19 unknown species were found to have been deposited around a stretch of land spanning at least half a mile of the forest. There was no doubt a portal was at work but as to the conditions it needed to appear and which world or even worlds it came from...that was a mystery.

But it was one Courtney was determined to solve.

Regardless, she resolved to keep the area under close watch and turned her attention to taking care of the samples being brought back to the greenhouse. She and Shangela took charge of making sure every newly potted plant arrived safely and securely and later that night set to work documenting each of them. In all it took three days before they agreed that they were satisfied with their descriptions of what the plant looked like, what conditions it seemed to thrive in, and where it was found on the school grounds. As they placed a symbol on their little hand-drawn map of the area, a distinct pattern emerged. It seemed, strangely enough, that the portal was _moving_!

There was no other way to account for such a wide dispersal pattern but that information just made the situation all the more confusing.

At least, as Courtney pointed out, they could anticipate where it might open up next and sure enough, just a few weeks later there was in fact a new arrival. It was almost missed at first and Courtney was sure that if she had not been visiting the grove at least once a week, it would have gone unnoticed for quite some time. The plant was just a little sapling, hardly more than four inches tall at that point but already when Courtney discovered it, it was set to root itself firmly into the ground. Upon transplanting it at the greenhouse, Courtney was surprised to find that once she exercised her powers to enhance its growth, the plant actually grew into a small bush with the most unusual cluster of berries. There were always three to a bunch, except for one odd cluster where only two managed to grow to full size while the third remained small and shriveled. Beyond that, they were a deep seafoam green with a slight glossy sheen to them...it was utterly intriguing.

Curiously, Courtney plucked off a random cluster, not quite daring to eat them but certainly tempted to.

She rolled them around in her hand to examine the details more closely. They were all growing from one stem and one seemed to be just a slightly lighter shade than the others. She separated that particular one from the bunch and placed the others into a small clear container. As if it would provide some kind of insight, she found herself staring at them expectantly, almost as though they’d suddenly start spilling out their secrets if she kept it up long enough.

She hadn’t even noticed that Alaska had wandered into the greenhouse to pick her up for lunch nor that she had sat herself down quite calmly only ten feet away. Alaska watched in amusement as Courtney remained solely focused on the container in front of her. It wasn’t anything unusual, she was actually quite used to it, and they still had some time to kill before Adore arrived so Alaska simply let her be.

In fact the only thing that managed to pry Courtney’s attention away from the berries was the sudden appearance of Shangela’s hand on her shoulder. In her deeply distracted state she had completely missed the somewhat loud entrance of her friend as the greenhouse door slammed shut and the exasperated sigh that quickly followed once Shangela had taken in the scene. Her eyes flickered from Courtney bent over the container to Alaska sitting close by in absolute serenity, entirely unbothered by the lack of response from Courtney. Shangela’s eyes rolled as hard as they could at Alaska’s easygoing shrug and she marched right up to Courtney’s side.

When the distracted blonde showed no sign of recognizing another presence, she placed her hand on Courtney’s shoulder, effectively startling her out of intense stare-down with the berries, and firmly told her, “Go to lunch already.”

“No one’s here yet!” Courtney argued in a rather whiny and defensive manner.

Shangela arched a sarcastic eyebrow and questioned, “Oh, no?”

She gestured over to Alaska who gave her signature wave and bright smile as she greeted her deeply embarrassed friend.

“When did you get here?” Courtney squeaked out.

“About ten minutes ago,” Alaska replied placidly. “Still waiting for Adore though.”

As if that were an excuse, Courtney rounded on Shangela and reasoned, “See? I’ve still got time!”

Another eye roll was sent her way but it went against the grain with Shangela to simply let her resume staring blankly at the container again. Gesturing to the pair of berries, she prompted, “What’s the deal with those?”

Coming back to her senses, Courtney explained, “New arrival. From the grove, you know. Must have come in sometime this week…”

Motioning to the fully grown bush a few feet away, Courtney mentioned, “It grew into _that_ and then these little berries popped up.”

Studying the plant closely, Shangela asked curiously, “Where’s the third one?”

“By itself...the color was a bit off so I set it aside. Not sure if that means anything yet.”

“And _that’s_ what you were trying to figure out by staring down that container?” Shangela questioned her friend knowingly.

Almost sheepishly, Courtney confirmed her suspicions but admitted she was no closer to an answer than she’d been 20 minutes ago. After having listened to the exchange closely, Alaska suggested in a mild tone, “Well, why not try cutting one open at least? We have some time till Adore gets here.”

Though admittedly hesitant to do so, at least until she attempted to try to research the plant in the library’s archives, Courtney had to agree there really wasn’t much else she could do at this point. Staring at the berries certainly did her no good and she doubted the limited records in the library would have anything useful to add. Might as well just see what the interior looked like.

As Courtney prepared to make an incision into the foreign berry, Shangela turned her attention to some of her own plants. She was certain that some of them required more frequent watering schedules than the others but she was still in the process of figuring out exactly how often that ought to be. For now she simply came by to check on how wilted the plants had become since that morning and upon seeing at least two of them beginning to shrivel up, she opted to go ahead and water them a second time today.

While she busied herself with that task, she caught a whiff of a powerfully offensive smell. Her lips twitched in disgust and almost immediately she called out in annoyance, “Good God, Courtney! How many times do I gotta tell you? If you gotta do _that_ , crack a window first!”

“What?” Courtney replied in immense confusion before taking note of the horrific scent herself. Mildly offended by the accusation, she shot back, “That wasn’t me! You’d _know_ if it was me!”

Skeptical, Shangela demanded to know, “Well, if it’s not you then what was it?”

Courtney was at a loss for an explanation at least until Alaska stepped in with watering eyes and a hand clasped over her nose as she murmured, “Uh...guys?”

The pair looked to her before following her line of sight to the now thoroughly sliced berry. Almost as if the realization had made the stench even worse, they all groaned and Shangela immediately demanded, “Get rid of it!”

“Where?” Courtney heatedly argued, “It’s gonna stink no matter where we throw it out!”

“Then fucking bury it!” Shangela shot back as she clenched her nose shut, “Just get it out of here!”

Though Courtney was inclined to agree that burying it might be the best option, that’d still require a bit of time and even then it wasn’t guaranteed to cover the stench. While she hesitated for a moment to collect her thoughts, Alaska suggested hopefully, “Maybe I could burn it?”

A steady flow of water was streaming from her eyes at this point and about the same could nearly be said for the others. Courtney glanced over to Shangela with a silent question and the brunette swiftly replied, “Whatever! Just do something, please, before we have to fumigate the whole building!”

Taking charge, Alaska picked up the container and poured out the berries into her hand. With a silent prayer that the juices wouldn’t stain her hand or leave any trace of the toe-curling smell, she quickly set the plant ablaze...and that turned out to be a colossal mistake.

Smoke immediately poured out and filled the greenhouse with a stench even worse than before. All three girls were gagging but they were too far gone to stop what had been started. They simply just had to ride it out until the berries were gone. Regardless, Courtney and Shangela ran to open all the windows and doors as wide as they could to encourage the air to escape the building quicker. The thought of taking the smoldering berries outside was tempting but already they were nearly nothing but ash in just two minutes. Nothing left for Alaska to do but tough it out, she figured.

As she tried not to retch she heard Courtney choking out, “Call Laganja! Quick! And Raja, too!”

A glance to the brunette in question confirmed she was already on it but thankfully at that point the last remainder of the ash was burned away to nothing and a sense of relief washed over the blonde. Though the smell was still lingering, it was much better than before. She could at least breathe again...somewhat.

Five minutes later, the air elementals had been reached and were on their way over from the dorms while the three debated what to do with the remaining berry, as well as the rest of the plant. Shangela wanted to return it to the grove but Courtney was reluctant. She still wanted to study the sample more intensely and take notes on it... _then_ maybe it could go back to the grove. Though admittedly she hoped by that point Shangela would just either get used to it or forget about the plant entirely.

Alaska of course remained neutral as she calmly watched the two bicker back and forth as they cleaned up a little. In fact when Adore finally strolled into the building she was the only one to take notice at first. Adore seemed a bit confused as to why all the windows and doors had been opened but the look on her face as she stepped inside was priceless. Her nose scrunched up and her lower lip was immediately caught between her teeth as she forced back a dry heave.

Alaska couldn’t help but grin as Adore cried out accusingly, “God, Courtney! The fuck did you eat?”

“It wasn’t me!” Courtney squeaked out defensively.

Adore seemed to have a hard time buying it so Alaska quickly stepped in to explain the situation. Of course by the time she reached the end, all it served to do was restart Courtney and Shangela’s argument once again.

“Just take it back to the grove and study it _there_ ,” Shangela insisted.

“There’s no need to!” Courtney argued, “As long as no one cuts open another berry, it’ll be fine!”

“And who’s gonna stay here and make sure nothing else happens, then? Sure as hell ain’t gonna be me!”

“No one’s asking you to! We’ll just separate the bush from everything else. No one else comes here any way!”

They kept arguing back and forth but by this time Adore had grown a bit bored. Her gaze drifted to the remaining berry and less than stealthily she made her way over to it. The bickering pair of plant elementals were so wrapped up in their debate that they completely missed Adore’s wandering eye...at least until she rolled the berry out into her hand and took a curious whiff of it. Almost instantly the two had shut up as matching looks of shock grew across their face.

Turning to face them, Adore mentioned casually, “Seems fine to me.”

Courtney gave an unsure murmur but only Shangela squawked at her to put the berry down that second. The last thing she needed was another round of that horrible stench. Shrugging carelessly, Adore did as she was told but her interest in the plant had certainly not faded. The scent of the lone berry remaining was absolutely fascinating. At the very least it was certainly a sharp contrast than the smell that had greeted her as she walked in. Now if _that_ sweet, floral scent were to fill the greenhouse...Adore might just find herself visiting more often.

The plant elementals quickly returned to arguing amongst themselves and as soon as Adore was sure their attention had been redirected away from _her_ , she cast a sly gaze over to Alaska, Almost immediately Alaska was suspicious of the mischievous grin and once Adore’s head jutted meaningfully towards the remaining berry, Alaska was furiously shaking her head. In the two seconds her sight left Adore’s in debate of whether or not to alert the other girls, Adore had grabbed the small scalpel Courtney had left sitting out and was preparing to make her own incision.

Courtney’s gaze registered Alaska’s worried expression just a moment too late and before she could even call out a strict warning, Adore had already sliced the last berry completely in half. The three that had lived through the brunt of the last overwhelming stench immediately clasped their hands over the mouth and nose as they all scolded Adore for her actions to varying degrees.

Had the end results been similar to the last berry that was cut open, Adore might have listened...possibly.

But since the light scent she had smelled earlier was all that escaped the plant, she felt rather proud as her voice smugly interrupted the trio with, “Smells delicious to me.”

At once the tirade had stopped as everyone but Adore gave a careful, considering whiff. Much to their surprise, the air was beginning to smell pleasant. The stench from before was even disappearing beneath this new scent. But still, Shangela was less than pleased. She immediately returned to scolding Adore for her thoughtless behavior for what little good that did. Adore simply brushed off Shangela’s attempts at reprimanding her with another carefree shrug.

Ignoring the plant elemental, who was still ranting in the background, she brought the berry beneath her nose for a chance to smell it more closely. It was honestly quite intoxicating...and made her realize just how hungry she actually was. Her stomach rumbled and as she eyed the berry consideringly and subconsciously licked her lips. Recognizing the familiar look on Adore’s face, Courtney was quick to step in with an adamant, “Adore, no! Put it down.”

She wasn’t actually intending to eat the thing...at least until Courtney went off on her own little soapbox of how dangerous and stupid that would be. So long as she was in the right, Courtney loved to lecture those around her. Even Alaska was rolling her eyes subtly as Courtney listed off all the reasons why doing anything with the berry was a bad idea. Shangela was mirroring the gesture as well...though not nearly so politely.

As for Adore, she listened for about half a minute until her stomach gave another rumbling. An argument presented itself in her head, ‘If the berry smelled good, why wouldn’t it taste good as well?’

That was perfectly sound logic to her; food that looked and smelled delicious was always worth sampling.

Plus she was just annoyed enough at Courtney to want to piss her off a little bit. So without any showmanship she popped the berry into her mouth and smiled charmingly at the horrified woman glaring at her.

“ _Spit it out_!” Courtney demanded as her voice rose to a pitch very few had ever heard before.

As if she couldn’t help herself, and she probably couldn’t, Adore muttered, “First time I heard _that_.”

Alaska was snickering in the background but the other girls were not as amused. In almost perfect synchrony they shouted, “Spit it out!”

All they got in response was another eyeroll. Adore would comply eventually but their reactions made her want to draw this out for as long as possible. The taste of the berry wasn’t all that bad actually. Not really her thing to eat fruit on its own like this but certainly if added to a recipe, it'd be delicious.

She was showily chewing the berry, practically swishing it back and forth in her mouth, as she smiled blindingly at the girls continuing to try and persuade her to spit it back out. But soon enough, Adore got tired of their little game and was rolling her eyes in boredom. She wasn’t actually being serious in all of this but the plant elementals were treating the behavior like it was the most stupid thing she had ever done. And besides all that, she was still hungry! She just wanted to go to lunch already!

Courtney caught her attention once more and tried to reason with the brunette but Adore just stared at her flatly. As she rolled her eyes yet again and mumbled something to the effect of, “Well, it’d be rude not to swallow at this point,” Shangela took a loud clumsy sidestep that toppled a nearby collection of pots.

In her startled state, Adore choked on the berry and before anyone had realized it, about half of it flew from her mouth while the other bit was quickly swallowed. No one quite understood what had happened at first, Courtney and Shangela were thrilled to see the berry lying on the greenhouse floor but Alaska was watching Adore with trepidation. Almost fearfully, she questioned, “Adore? What happened?”

Horrified, the brunette admitted, “I swallowed some.”

Instantly the joy at seeing the majority of the mushy berry on the floor was replaced with anxiety. Overwhelmed, Courtney asked helplessly, “What should we do? Induce vomiting?”

While not thrilled with that particular idea it still seemed like the best option to Shangela, although her immediate response was an urgent, “Take her outside to do that!”

The worried look on everyone’s face was too much for Adore and rather regretfully she squeaked out, “I don’t wanna die.”

Here Shangela let out an annoyed huff and shot back, “Bitch, your stupid ass should have thought of that before you put that fucking thing in your mouth!”

“It’ll be alright, Adore,” Courtney assured the worried young woman beside her. She might not be able to do much but at least could offer some comfort for her friend while they figured out what to do. With a sort of blind hope in her voice, she suggested, “We can take you to Jinkx, she’ll fix you up.”

A skeptical look flashed across Alaska’s face as she slowly drawled out, “I don’t think that’s how-”

A quick glare from Courtney produced a 180 in her attitude and quickly she caught on to what Courtney was trying to accomplish. Correcting herself, she hastily added in with an eager nod, “Definitely! Jinkx can definitely help.”

Despite the attempt from both women to console her, Adore felt worse than ever. Her stomach was twisted painfully and her face starting to break out in a light sweat. She truly thought this was going to be the beginning of a slow and painful death, even the other three held that opinion in the back of their minds, until a very loud rumbling broke the silence.

Adore’s stomach gave a protesting growl and almost immediately her cheeks started to heat up. Quite sheepishly she gave a small smile and complained, “I’m still hungry.”

Rolling her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Shangela helplessly waved at the three with a feeble hand and defeatedly told them, “Just...go to lunch already. All three of you, get out of here.”

Quite cowed, the trio agreed amongst themselves to keep their lunch plans but certainly maintain a watchful eye over Adore for any additional symptoms. On their way out, Courtney shouted through the doorframe, “And don’t touch that bush!”

“No guarantees,” came the immediate reply but Courtney knew that if anything, all Shangela might do was relocate the bush elsewhere in the greenhouse, no matter how much she might object to its presence otherwise.

Following this incident with Adore, the portal in the grove certainly seemed to have become less active. Or perhaps that was normal and Courtney hadn’t noticed while she was busy cataloguing all of the arrivals as she found them. But once she was finally caught up with nothing new left to write about and no activity in the grove for over a month, she had to admit that she was bored...and antsy.

She just wanted _something_ to study and waiting around for the portal to drop a specimen off was not nearly as exciting as it sounded in the beginning. So eventually her thoughts turned to seeking out the plants instead. A number of students already travel to other worlds, either for their own pleasure with their family or on business with the school. She had no reason to believe her request would be that much different so she set forth proposing her plan to Michelle.

To her credit, Michelle listened very patiently and considered all that Courtney had said yet to her absolute shock she actually _denied_ the proposal within seconds of Courtney finishing her speech. Her jaw actually dropped as the vice principal remained firm in her decision and refused to budge on the issue. In a huff, Courtney stormed off after the meeting to one of the few people who would let her vent her anger in peace. While Alaska and Adore were nice and all, Alaska was very much a problem solver and would instantly try to soothe Courtney’s frustrations while Adore wouldn’t be fazed by it at all. In fact, she'd probably just shrug her shoulders and ignore Courtney’s rant altogether.

No, what she needed was someone who’d let her be angry, let her work it out of her system, and _then_ try to help...And Bianca was perfect for that.

Even while busy working on the costumes for the latest school production, she’d still be actively listening and even supply witty or catty remarks as she went. Bianca had been there long before Courtney arrived and in truth was somewhat of a mystery still but overall the blonde genuinely valued her presence. Even if her energy was hard to match at times or she became frustrated by another student’s laziness, Bianca could make Courtney crack up with just the tiniest comment or roll of the eyes and Courtney appreciated that more than anything. But even after nearly a year of friendship the blonde was no closer to figuring out what Bianca’s powers were. Yet still it felt like the brunette understood her far more than the other students at the school...and admittedly the light flirting here and there was a bit of an ego boost, she wouldn’t lie.

So off to the theater department she went to unburden herself on the older student.

Though she was again hard at work bringing in the hemline on a dress for one of the students set to appear in the spring musical, Bianca still listened with incredible patience as Courtney bitched about Michelle’s denial of her proposal.

“I just...I don’t get why she’s so against it!” Courtney lamented after ranting for nearly 20 minutes. “Plenty of other students get to travel between worlds...why can’t I?”

“Well,” Bianca reasoned in a vaguely distracted voice as she methodically placed the pins into the fabric, “ _they’re_ going to cities, villages...somewhere _inhabited_ ... _You_ on the other hand want to go traipsing through the jungle on your own.”

“So?” the blonde shot back defensively, “It’s not like I’m gonna cause any trouble out there. Just collect samples and be on my way.”

Courtney didn’t have to look at Bianca to know she was rolling her eyes. Even hunched over the table with her bangs falling over her face couldn’t hide the trademark manner in which her eyes had begun rolling like dice. But she didn’t make any further comment, perhaps waiting for Courtney to continue on as she expected or just distracted at the moment by making sure every pin is accounted for and will _not_ find its way stuck into her hand later on.

The blonde knew she was nearly pouting like a spoiled child at this point but there was something so cathartic about complaining without the fear of being judged...at least not too harshly. So Courtney indulged herself in whining, “It’s not fair! Michelle even said she wanted me to document everything. Now that’s all caught up, what am I supposed to do? Who knows when the portal will open up again?”

Huffing out in solitary protest, the blonde grumbled, “Maybe I ought to just stake out the grove and wander through the portal when it does appear.”

Here Bianca lost some of her patience and snarkily replied as a stray pin grazed against her unsuspecting fingertip, “Fuck me...C’mon, Courtney. Even _you_ aren’t that reckless!...What reasons did Michelle give for _why_ she wouldn’t let you go?”

“She said it was too dangerous,” the younger woman muttered bitterly as she nestled in further on the old and beaten couch that had been placed in the dressing room. It wasn’t the most comfortable but better than nothing, though Courtney had to admit that today she was having a hard time finding a relaxing position.

Her eyes drifted back to Bianca’s precise hands preparing the dress for sewing as she suggested in a blunt but well meaning manner, “Then just don’t go alone. Bring back up or better yet; tag along with the students that already have permission. Just tack on your little field trip with theirs.”

Mildly surprised at the comment, Courtney drawled out, “That’s...not a bad idea actually.”

From there the pair idly chatted away as Bianca worked on the dress. Between the two of them they really fleshed out Bianca’s idea and prepared it to be presented to Michelle for further consideration. But if Courtney had to admit, it seemed like _she_ was the one coming up with most of the additional arguments. Bianca usually just distractedly agreed but that easily could have been from her focusing almost all of her attention on the garment she was diligently tailoring.

As soon as she was finished and had cleaned up her working station, Bianca rounded on Courtney and asked, “We good then? Now let’s go talk to Michelle.”

Alarmed and finding herself just a bit nervous, Courtney squeaked out, “ _Today_ ? _Now_?”

“That a problem?” the brunette questioned with an arched brow.

“No, just...what if she gets annoyed with me showing up twice in one day to argue about this?”

Brushing aside the concern, Bianca confidently replied, “Don’t worry. I’ll be there, too. She won’t say ‘no’ to me.”

With that, their decision was made and once again Courtney was off to pester Michelle in her office, this time with Bianca in tow.  Despite how confident Courtney seemed to be with her newly expanded argument, she still felt rather anxious about seeing Michelle again, especially so soon. But there was little she could’ve said to dissuade Bianca even if her objections were any stronger. At least she had a friend for moral support, what little she might provide, this time.

Almost immediately after knocking on the office door, Michelle answered and quickly her face fell as she saw the two entering. Instantly she knew why Courtney had come back, the girl was persistent after all, and Michelle was not looking forward to another round of debating. But that was part of her job so she ushered the students inside to get the impromptu meeting over with.

While Courtney did most of the talking, as was expected, Michelle found herself genuinely considering the merits of Courtney’s proposal this time. She had been absolutely right earlier on when she said it was far too dangerous, but perhaps in a group it would not be so bad. As she listened to the blonde listing off all of the reasons she ought to get approval for the intended excursions, Michelle felt her eyes drifting to Bianca. She seemed to be listening just as intently yet her focus was solely on Michelle, not Courtney.

And the blank stare was a bit unsettling as well.

But soon enough, almost like a rubber band snapping, her mind was back on Courtney’s speech. It resonated in her head over and over again and slowly she was becoming more and more convinced.

It would be an excellent chance to study other worlds, even if it began with just their flora...and the plants themselves might prove useful.

Soon enough Michelle found her thoughts consumed by every single reason Courtney had listed off and she couldn’t find a single fault with any of them. So long as it was part of a group, she ought to be safe enough, right? And like Courtney had said, other students get to travel to other worlds as part of school funded trips, why couldn’t she just add her objective to theirs? It would even be less costly than separate trips.

With a final concluding argument that the plant elementals were more than prepared to take on the additional work, Michelle found herself thoroughly convinced. And then like her mind clearing up after a long head cold, the school’s second in command felt herself able to think freely about something other than Courtney. Again her graze fell to Bianca as the blonde patiently awaited her verdict but despite her unshakable suspicions, she hadn’t seen Bianaca do anything unusual. It was odd though...why would she come along with Courtney if she wasn’t going to help her with her argument? The blonde certainly could have done it by herself.

Pushing aside an uneasy feeling at the blank yet still vaguely expectant stare, Michelle announced her decision; Courtney could join the other teams of students as they travelled _but_ depending on the world they were visiting, she was required to take at least one companion with her that had an active fighting power. Of course the blonde’s first choice would be Alaska but she thought she’d ought to spend time thinking of other alternatives in case her friend was unable to accept.

Thanking Michelle profusely, Courtney practically floated out of the older woman’s office in pure joy. Bianca was her usual polite self to the school staff but Michelle couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong here...that she’d been tricked somehow. But ultimately she had no proof and had to let the girls go on their way.

Shaking her head, she asked herself, “What the fuck did I just agree to?”

As the pair of girls walked back to their dormitory, Courtney made the blissful comment of, “That was easier than I thought!”

Nodding, Bianca mumbled a tired noise of agreement hoping that Courtney would let the subject drop for a little while but unsurprisingly she continued on with, “I can’t believe she actually said ‘yes’!”

Another vague noise of acknowledgment passed Bianca’s lips but she could feel herself getting antsy about the conversation, particularly as Courtney continued to chatter on undeterred by the one-sidedness. Bianca remained mostly quietly but with every praise the blonde had for herself on the 15 minute walk back to their rooms, she felt the urge to take the appropriate credit growing ever stronger.

When Courtney squealed out a self-congratulatory, “My argument really worked!” Bianca just couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes and muttering, “Sure... _your_ argument.”

Conceding just slightly, Courtney replied, “Well ours, but you gotta admit I was doing most of the talking.”

A little scoff was heard from the older girl as she instinctively grumbled, “Cause I was doing all the hard work.”

“You barely spoke!” the blonde shot back.

“Do you really think that was all I was doing there?” Bianca asked as she once again rolled her eyes. “Just giving you moral support? C’mon Court. I have better uses for my time than that.”

Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, Courtney demanded to know, “What do you mean? What’d you do then?”

Ignoring the questions, Bianca remained steady in her pace as she made her way back to the dormitories. After a few feet it was clear she didn’t intend to stop so Courtney rushed off to catch up with her and further pursue her answer.

“Bianca!” she implored, her voice starting to get whiny.

But still the jet haired girl declined to answer. She had the art of ignoring distractions and annoyances down to a science and didn’t even spare a glance to the blonde trying capture her attention.

“Bianca, tell me!” Courtney complained once more. Her voice was getting higher in pitch and starting to grate on Bianca’s nerves but still she was stronger than that. However Courtney insisted on knowing, “What were you doing? Are you blackmailing her or something?”

“No,” the Bianca denied as a slight grin formed at the thought. She probably could have found _something_ interesting if she really wanted to but often times people’s ‘secrets’ just bored her. No, this time she had a mission in Michelle’s office and that was all she had been interested in accomplishing.

Yet unsurprisingly, Courtney refused to let the subject go. Nearly stamping her feet as they travelled side-by-side, she pestered, “Then tell me already!”

Rolling her eyes, Bianca finally slowed her pace to a complete stop and looked directly at her friend. Very clearly, she asked, ‘Why?’

But to Courtney’s shock, Bianca’s mouth hadn’t even twitched as she said it. Yet all the same, Courtney heard her distinctive voice clear as day as if it had been right inside her...head.

Of course.

Finally realizing what Bianca’s powers were, Courtney felt her eyes grow wide as she exclaimed, “Oh!”

But then another stark truth set in...it really wasn’t her that convinced Michelle.

Her shoulders sank as she let out a dejected, “Oh.”

Honestly, a good part of her was annoyed at this revelation. She prided herself on her valid reasoning and logical arguments. It might have been on short notice but she prepared her speech for the impromptu meeting and presented it well, she thought.

She was _proud_ of having such a convincing argument.

Until it slapped her in the face that perhaps in truth it might not have done the trick without Bianca’s help.

But she got what she wanted after all, so what was the issue?

It was a stupid denial anyway. Who cares how she managed to bypass it?

Yet still her stomach twisted that it wasn’t her efforts alone that got the approval.

Bianca knew her friend well enough to recognize all of her conflicting thoughts even without invading her mind. A twinge of guilt for not telling the blonde what she was planning to do beforehand surfaced but ultimately she pushed that aside. Courtney was likely to have rejected that offer had she known about it and almost certainly Michelle would have stood firm in her denial.

No, Bianca didn’t regret what she did. It _was_ a stupid ruling according to her logic. Let some students wander around other worlds, interacting with god knows what, while denying others that genuinely want to study something both harmless and potentially useful?

She made the right choice, perhaps not the best one, but in the end it was for Courtney’s benefit. And the blonde seemed to come to that reasoning herself. She still had some reservations but she’d come to terms with that before long.

Accepting Bianca’s actions, she gave her friend a quick word of thanks and changed the subject to meal plans for later that day.

******

Since the day Courtney got her approval, she worked harder than ever with expanding and maintaining the greenhouse’s collection of specimens. At least once a month she’d be off collecting samples in other worlds and then spend nearly a full week simply documenting and describing all of the new arrivals. It kept her quite busy and then even more so once she received permission to transplant a few around the school in what essentially became her private gardens. The plants that she actively worked to propagate were ones known to have beneficial qualities; whether it was a cough suppressant, helped to settle the stomach, or even heal cuts and burns quicker; almost as quickly as the plants grew to maturity, they were plucked, dried, and stored away for further use and their empty spaces quickly taken up by the next generation of their species.

Between the travelling, research, caretaking, and actually attending to her school work. There was not much time left in Courtney’s schedule for anything else. Of course she brought along a number of her friends to help collect samples and a few even visited her in the greenhouse, namely Alaska, but for the longest while her work was what kept Courtney content throughout the day. She looked forward to burying herself among the plants and uncovering their secrets, whether it be for her own curiosity or to help others with their medicinal properties. She was quite happy like that until she met Alaska’s new roommate.

At first she didn’t think much of Willam other than as a new friend to eat lunch with but after a few weeks, she found herself intrigued by the younger girl. She was sharp and witty, a bit like Bianca, but also had moments where she was simply awkward or clumsy, like Adore and Alaska. She represented some of Courtney’s favorite qualities in her other friends so it was no wonder the blonde took a liking to her.

She found herself longing to reconnect with her group of friends again...to see and spend time with them outside of when she was working. She hadn’t realized just how little she saw of them now when it wasn’t related to school or greenhouse work. But most of all, she found herself wanting to get to know Willam more. She chalked it up originally to just wanting to get to know her new friend but deep down she had already begun to suspect there might have been an inkling of something deeper beyond that. A number of instances when she’d force herself to pry her attention away from her work were when she _knew_ Willam would be hanging out with the group. Too often she tried to tell herself that was merely a coincidence but on the occasions when Willam had not shown up, preferring instead to hang out with Sharon, Courtney found herself in an emotional state that was previously uncommon and incredibly annoying to her; she was jealous.

More than once she found herself thinking, ‘If I could leave my work, shouldn’t Willam be able to pull herself away from _Sharon_?’

Yet too often as she lay in bed reflecting on her misery, she was forced to concede on a number of points. She was hard to pin down to any plans, often times the cincher for her attending a group outing was if someone mentioned Willam would be there. It was quite possible that Willam didn’t even know Courtney was expected to attend. Or on a similar note, if Alaska would be there, Willam was known to avoid her at certain times, especially when she’d get in one of her moods where she tried to encourage Willam to come train with her.

It was easy to see at this point that Willam was uncomfortable with the thought of training and Courtney had her suspicions why. To most others, the little bursts of flame shooting from Willam’s mouth as she huffed in annoyance or the sparks that would fly from her fingertips keeping everyone at a respectable distance might seem like deliberate choices...but Courtney was beginning to suspect they were anything but. Far too often they seemed unintentional; Willam immediately showing signs of guilt and distress if she ever hurt anyone, no matter how minor. But all the same she seemed helpless to stop herself. She’d often turn to drawing in on herself or even just leaving a short time later. And more often than not, Courtney would find herself seeking out the dirty blonde, particularly if she had been on the receiving end of such a display.

Another factor that would keep Willam from participating in a group activity was if Alaska suggested going to Courtney’s greenhouse for a visit. As usual, the youngest blonde was always trying to think of a common area for the three to hang out in and since Courtney loved to be busy and working still, the greenhouse seemed to be the perfect setting...aside from the fact that Willam utterly refused to set foot in there.

At first, of course, the denials were reasonable; she had other plans. Alaska would become a little annoyed, especially if a mention of Sharon’s name popped up in the excuse, but she accepted it. As she tried to regulate the visits so that Willam could plan to attend more easily, it became clear she was actively avoiding that building. Sometimes, she used her old faithful; that she already made promises to other friends to hang out. Other times it was a little more far fetched but understandable; she wanted to catch up on school work. Courtney knew she was rather diligent in keeping up with her studies but never pointed that out in front of Alaska...no, that’d only lead to another round of bickering between her friends.

But then, it turned to a more blatant refusal; Willam simply said ‘No’ and stood her ground no matter how much Alaska persisted.

Willam could be incredibly stubborn and strong-minded, another aspect Courtney had come to admire. There were times when she could be an immovable forced but on the same subject, that inflexibility often led to friction between the two. Courtney was more easygoing, preferring to make plans as they felt right. Willam liked set plans and if someone arrived late, more than what was socially acceptable, she’d get rather annoyed. Usually that was directed towards Alyssa, someone known for arriving hours late and wanting to stay well after everyone else was ready to call it quits, but also sometimes that extended to Courtney as she often found her attention pulled by a number of things that just weren’t what the group agreed to do on that particular day.

At its core, Willam liked predictability; it helped her to keep her composure to be around familiar settings. Courtney was more of free-spirit, just going with the flow until the next thing caught her focus.

This was something they had more than one argument about and certainly wasn't their only topic of discourse. The pair could often be found bickering with one another before too long though usually it was quite one-sided. Courtney had years of experience, especially after becoming friends with Bianca, of brushing off playful jabs or snarky remarks. The trouble that Willam ran into was that she just didn't know when to stop or where Courtney's boundaries were. Far too often she crossed those lines and found that the blonde was actually upset by a comment or two Willam had made. Then she'd get defensive herself and shut down.

Too often guilt would eat away at her but by the time she saw her friend again, Courtney usually forgot about the incident and that just left Willam feeling even more foolish. Her irritation and powers would flare up once more and she'd storm off in a huff. Most people would simply leave her alone until she calmed down but not Courtney. Whether it was wise or not, she'd follow the dirty blonde and remain by her side until everything was alright once again between them. Occasionally they'd talk about it but more often than not, they danced around the subject entirely.

But perhaps, Courtney thought, that really wasn't the best idea. She was _sure_ there was a topic each was avoiding and equally sure that there was some degree of overlap between the two but she was afraid of ruining the delicate balance she and Willam had worked themselves into. She didn't want to lose her friend by pushing her before she was ready but like the universe taking a hand or perhaps simply having enough of their games with one another, soon they were forced to talk things out.

It started when Alaska was unusually persistent about wanting Willam to visit the greenhouse with her. She had broached the subject rather sneakily and Willam must have been distracted with another thought otherwise she would have smelled this topic coming a mile awhile. She admitted that she didn’t have any set plans immediately after their classes ended for the day and Alaska instantly jumped on that piece of information like a starving animal. She was insistent that they visit Courtney after hurriedly confirming with the blonde that she intended to be there as well.

Courtney was almost tempted to lie for Willam’s sake but she did have quite a bit of busywork to do around the greenhouse and would need to get started on it right after class in order to have some of the night left for herself still. So rather carefully, she nodded in confirmation and debated on whether or not to step in as Alaska argued in earnest with Willam about finally visiting. More than once Alaska pointed out that Willam had yet to stop by to visit Courtney even though she had been there for months now. All of her arguments were logical and reasonable but she seemed to be overlooking the fact that Willam was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the thought of being surrounded by so many plants.

She _knew_ something awful would happen if she went in there, even if Alaska were accompanying her. Always being around Courtney set her on edge and in a building full of potential kindling? All it would take is one little spark and Willam could see all that Courtney had worked for going up in flames in mere minutes. Even thought of ruining just one of Courtney’s plants was enough to keep her from accompanying Courtney to the grove she visited so often.

But Alaska was relentless.

In a truly impressive manner she had managed to actually bully Willam into a corner until she snapped that, “Fine, I’ll come to the fucking greenhouse!”

Smiling brightly now that she had gotten her way, Alaska replied smugly, “Great!”

“But I’m not staying,” Willam quickly muttered as she tried to settle her racing heart and twisting stomach.

“We’ll see,” the youngest shot back in an overly confident manner.

Seeing the distress on Willam’s face, no matter how hard she tried to hide, Courtney felt a jolt of guilt. Trying to mitigate the situation, she offered, “She doesn’t have to visit if she doesn’t want to. Really, Willam, I don’t mind if-”

“She _does_ need to visit,” Alaska interrupted rather self-righteously, “She’s the only one of our friends who’s never stepped foot in there even once!”

Then turning to Willam to deal the final blow, “Don’t you want to see what Courtney’s been working so hard on?”

And _that_ was the final nail in the coffin, they all knew it. There was no answer Willam could have given to politely excuse herself. She was stuck having to visit for at least a few minutes after classes ended and the thought of what might happen in those minutes completely terrified her.

The rest of the day sped by in a panic for Willam who was spending her time trying to think of some way to get out of the mess she had found herself in. She knew after agreeing to visit that Alaska would hunt her down if she didn’t show up outside the greenhouse so at most she’d have about 10 or 15 minutes between the final bell and when Alaska would come looking for her. Short of hurting herself and going to the infirmary there seemed to be nothing that could excuse her from the obligation.

The only thought she had left was a vague hope that Sharon might be able to help. For whatever reason the two did not seem to get along and while that alone would not stop Alaska from dragging Willam away after she made a promise, she had a belief that Sharon could do or think of something, anything to help her out. But even Sharon was at a loss once asked and Willam was starting to descend into a full blown panic. Her fingers had begun shooting out sparks periodically that threatened to grow even stronger as her sense of impending doom worsened.

All Sharon could think to suggest was to somehow stop Willam's powers from even activating in the first place and like a bulb going off in her head, Willam found herself blurting out, "Throw some water on me!"

“What?” her companion questioned in shock.

Insistent, Willam declared, "Throw some water on me. I can't set anything on fire if I can't-"

The words were barely out of her mouth before she felt a sudden rush of cold and undoubtedly dirty water being splashed all over her. A glare was quickly sent Sharon’s way as Willam mumbled with a heavily sarcasm-laden voice, “ _Thanks._ ”

As she squeezed the excess water from her sopping wet hair, Sharon was quick to remind her with a smug smirk tugging on her lips, "You asked me to."

“Right,” Willam consented with a huff of agreement, “But next time, could you just get my hands or something?"

Sharon muttered something about wanting to make sure she’d done a thorough job but the sentiment was lost as Willam took note of her biting back a laugh. Rolling her eyes, Willam reclaimed the bag she’d dropped to the ground earlier and turned to make her way towards the greenhouse. As she left, she grumbled loud enough for Sharon to easily hear, "Yeah. Fucking thanks...fucking bitch."

She knew Sharon was grinning wickedly behind her but as much as she would have loved to mumble a few other select words to call her friend, she knew she was already pushing the unspoken time limit she had before Alaska would come looking for her. As Willam plodded along the grassy lawn, she couldn’t help but appreciate how Sharon had gotten her so absolutely and thoroughly soaked with just a small blast of water from the puddle. Her skirt was clinging to her legs and little droplets were still rolling off her body by the time made her way to the greenhouse. The tight top she had worn was now like a second skin but there was hardly a concern for that as Willam tried to picture the mess Sharon had made of her makeup and hair.

Almost to confirm how awful she must have looked, the second Alaska caught sight of her waddling down the pathway, her face morphed into one of concern and shock. Immediately she was asking what had happened, drowning out Courtney’s similar question in the process, and all too quickly Willam realized she forgot to think of an excuse for her appearance on the way over.

Hastily, she ran off with a tangent that she and Sharon had been smoking and some piece of clothing caught fire or something and Sharon tried to put it out by splashing her but it seems only a few key words from that explanation stuck with Alaska. Her eyes became clouded in anger as Willam trailed off mid sentence after catching sight of the fury spreading across Alaska’s face. Before anyone could question her on her sudden change in demeanor, Alaska rushed off in the exact direction Willam had just come from.

Far too late she realized that Alaska was probably looking for Sharon but even as she called out to the blonde to stop her, Alaska did not seem to hear. Willam was ready to run and intervene but Courtney placed a gentle hand on her upper arm and instantly any other thought was jolted right out of her head. She flinched out of reach but Courtney hardly seemed to notice as she assured Willam, “Trust me, you don’t want to get involved in that. And Alaska’s not the type to do anything stupid anyway.”

Against her better judgement, Willam simply nodded and waited to see if Courtney might excuse her from visiting after all. There was a hope that she might but still an ever present thought lurked in her mind that Alaska would just make her come back a second time...and then she _really_ wouldn’t have an excuse for showing up dripping wet.

So she bit the bullet and suggested, “Why don’t we go inside a while?”

With any luck this would be a short visit and then she could leave before she dries off. The humidity in the greenhouse ought to keep her skin fairly damp, she thought, but just in case she’d have to be cautious still.

Courtney was smiling brightly as she led her friend inside the building so she could finally see all the hard work she had done with all of her samples. Wall to wall was lined with specimens of every size and shape. Some of unusual colors, others with strange fruit or flowers, and all of it smelling wonderful. It was like a self contained secret garden just for the two of them as Willam made a quick note of just how empty the greenhouse was of other people. She would have expected at least one other student working and the fact that she and Courtney were alone did nothing to calm her nerves. She could have sworn she felt a little burst of something from her fingertips yet when she looked down there wasn’t a trace to be seen. Her fingers were just as damp as they had been before...must have been her imagination.

Snapping herself out of her thoughts, Willam found Courtney asking quite hopefully and persuasively if she would help to water some of the plants. It was part of her routine at the greenhouse and as she pointed out, it’d go a lot quicker with a second person. Rolling her eyes at Courtney’s obvious and very played up attempt at a puppy pout, Willam agreed with a smile and asked where she could find a watering can.

All too quickly a very full one was thrust happily into her hands and after taking note of two more sitting nearby, it dawned on Willam that the blonde had planned this all along. Certainly she could have gotten a head start on watering already if she had wanted to but knowing her friends were coming by, she must have seen that as a way to lessen her workload.

Smart...and resourceful, Willam had to admit.

Rolling her eyes, she trudged along to the section of plants that Courtney had pointed out as needing to be watered that afternoon. There was quite a lot of them, too much for one can of water to be able to hold, so rather helplessly she glanced around for some kind of tap for when she’d eventually ran out. Guessing at the thought running through her mind, Courtney mentioned a quick list of nearby sinks or spouts that had been strategically placed throughout the building. And with that the two got to work in a comfortable silence.

There was no idle chatter as each focused on watering the specimens with just the right amount that they would need to make until the next day on their watering schedule. Courtney took care of the smaller or more delicate plants while Willam was left to deal with the hardier ones that could stand a little too much or too little water. It was peaceful work, one that consumed the girls as they carefully made their way around the building. Alaska still had not turned up but neither was quite as concerned about that as they ought to have been.

Despite her former thoughts of trepidation, Willam found herself thinking that it might not be so bad visiting Courtney here if this is what she could expect. Sure, her heart was still racing when they brushed past one another in the tighter spaces but in all she felt in control of herself. Perhaps next time she might not even need to be doused with water beforehand. Every time she refilled her can she made sure her hands dipped into the water as well and that seemed to be enough to keep her powers in check. Besides that extra preventative measure, the greenhouse had a calming atmosphere that helped keep her nerves under control and there were plenty of other distractions if that alone was not enough.

The sheer diversity of the samples alone was overwhelming, even those that came from the same worlds as indicated by the ID tags on their pots. It seemed Courtney had been quite busy taking advantage of her traveling, as well as what had been found in the grove or gifted to her over the last few months. It was no wonder she hardly had time outside of taking care of the greenhouse.

The plant Willam found particularly interesting looked much like a short tree or perhaps a bush with a very tall stem and vines creeping around the sides. The vine themselves had a sort of thin, hairy-like covering, in addition to a number of cream tinted flowers that were almost perfectly reminiscent of miniature lilies. As for the main expanse of the tree, the leaves were dense and shone with a deep emerald green. It helped serve as a brilliant backdrop behind the random clusters of pale fuschia colored blossoms scattered amongst the branches.

Even the light, vaguely floral scent wafting from tree drew Willam in closer as she set down her watering can to take a closer look. It was like time had stopped just for a moment as she took in the sight that laid before her. Courtney's sudden appearance at her side wasn't even enough to break her from her tranquil state.

Quite proudly, the blonde noted softly, "This is one of my favorites too. Tooks weeks to get the cutting to grow properly. I guess where it comes from the conditions have to be just right."

"The vines?" Willam asked in a vaguely distracted voice as she carefully lifted a cluster of flowers under her nose.

Taking in a stronger whiff, she heard Courtney answer, "The trunk needed something firm to help it grow otherwise it'd just collapse under its own weight...and the vines need something to pull them up from the ground so that their flowers don’t get crushed under foot…"

There was a moment of silence before Courtney's voice dipped low into a pleased, contemplative tone as she asked, "It's kinda neat how they both support each other, huh?"

At this Willam nodded and turned her head towards her friend. Though Courtney was only gazing at the plant in that moment, Willam could see an expression of pure happiness and pride like none she had witnessed before. The smile on the blonde’s lips was unmatched by any other Willam had seen before or could ever expect to see on anyone else. Though the gesture wasn't directed at her, she felt her heart racing in a desperate attempt to escape her chest and her cheeks heated up to where she could almost feel it at her ears.

Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing thing she felt growing hotter as Courtney returned her attention back to her companion.

In just a few seconds the smile had disappeared and an expression of urgency quickly replaced it as Courtney called out, "Willam!"

As she snapped her head down to follow Courtney's line of sight, she immediately noticed a trail of smoke originating from the flowers she still held in her hand. Charred edges were beginning to appear amongst the leaves and in just a moment as a familiar panicking sensation began to overtake Willam’s senses, the entire cluster of blossoms had truly caught on fire.

Before Willam could even _think_ about what to do, Courtney had snatched up a watering can and promptly poured its contents over the flaming bundle of flowers. The rush of cold water jolted Willam out of her state of shock and immediately she pulled away from the small tree. Her fingers were trembling and despite the dousing of water, sparks were once again threatening to shoot out from her hands. The guilt and lurching in her stomach doubled at the thought of accidentally setting something else on fire but in a building surrounded by plants she couldn’t see how it was unavoidable.

Her voice was shaky and cracking as she continued to back far away from Courtney, “I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!”

Pulling her attention from the plant, Courtney dropped the can, completely ignoring the spilled contents, and rushed up in front of her friend. Willam’s eyes were wide with panic and terror, so much that Courtney doubted she was even truly looking at her in that moment. All she could think to do was to place her hands on Willam’s upper arms, and assure her as calmly as she could, “Willam! Hey, it's okay. _You're_ okay.”

Willam flinched at the contact, her immediate thoughts consumed by the possibility that she might accidentally hurt Courtney by being so close, but despite the little sputtering flames still emanating from Willam’s fingers, Courtney remained undeterred. Her only mission right now was to take care of her friend. Keeping her voice level and firm, she requested, “Hey, look at me for a minute.”

Willam’s eyes darted back to hers like a scared animal but the second they made contact, Courtney affirmed softly, “You're okay, I promise.”

“But-” Willam began as her gaze flew back to damaged plant.

“It's fine,” Courtney cut her off, “We'll fix it later. Just look at me.”

Almost immediately, Willam complied and once she did, Courtney continued on in a gentle, consoling tone, “That's it. Now close your eyes and take a deep breath in…”

Trusting her friend, Willam did as requested and waited for further instructions. After a few seconds, she heard Courtney speaking once again, “Now let it out. Good. Deep breath in...and let it out. Keep going.”

This continued on for a good five minutes, the only sound filling the greenhouse was Willam’s breathing and random background noise that was easily filtered out. Though she couldn’t confirm it, it felt as though her hands had stopped shaking but almost certainly they had stopped shooting out sparks. As if sensing her thoughts, Courtney informed her with a smile in her voice, “See? You're already calming down.”

Hesitantly, Willam opened her eyes as she felt the warm hands disappearing from her upper arms but they weren’t gone from her skin for very long. Without any hesitation, even after seeing the damage they could cause, Courtney took the damp hands into her own smaller ones. Instantly Willam’s fear began to return and she tried to pull away but Courtney refused to let go. As equally gentle as she’d been before, she reassured her friend, “Shh, you're okay...Breathe in and out.”

There was a moment’s pause were Willam debated trying to run away but as she looked into Courtney’s eyes, she found herself wanting to take a chance and stay by her side. This time with their gazes fully locked, she returned to the breathing exercises and soon found herself calming down once again. Even after she felt her emotional state leveling out, Courtney did not loosen her grip even in the slightest. She wove her fingers through Willam’s slightly resisting ones to demonstrate her absolute faith in her friend.

In an unusually daring act, Willam stepped even closer and allowed her forehead to rest against the shorter woman’s. Her voice was quiet and guilt-laden as she tried to apologize once more, “I'm sorry, I-”

Interrupting with a forgiving smile, Courtney cut her off with, “I know it was an accident. You didn't mean to...I know you, Bill. You wouldn't do that on purpose.”

There was another pause shared between the two. Courtney wasn’t trying to rush Willam to say anything more than what she was comfortable with, instead letting Willam build her confidence as she argued with herself over what to do next. Deciding it was now or never, Willam resolved to finally admit one of her biggest secrets. With a cracking voice, the younger of the pair began, “I...I can't-”

She broke off unable to finish her own sentence but Courtney figured out quite easily what she was trying to say. Her tone dipped low with consolation and understanding as she replied, “I know. I've known for awhile now actually....Alaska shouldn't have forced you to come here before you were ready. I should've stopped her...She meant well, honest.”

“I don't think she... _knows_ ,” Willam muttered, feeling entirely ashamed of herself for hiding this aspect from her closest friends.

“No, I don’t think so either,” Courtney agreed, “I don't think she always remembers how much students coming into their powers can struggle....Did anyone ever tell you what Alyssa was like when she first got here?”

Shaking her head, Willam replied that she hadn’t heard any of the stories yet so Courtney was quick to fill in the blanks. There was a slight laugh in her voice as she recalled the first few weeks after Alyssa’s arrival, “She was a mess. Worse than you, even. She couldn't go near anything electronic without overloading it or wiping the memory...couldn't even touch anyone with electrocuting them.”

Her expression became more reflective as she related softly, “She was miserable for the longest time until she finally got everything under control...but just look at her now. She's holding hands with Shangela every chance she gets! And she's always pulling everyone in for a hug.”

Even Willam had to laugh at that last statement. More than once she’d seen other students, particularly Laganja, struggling to escape Alyssa’s far too tight and far too extended hugs. She always thought that was just the kind of person Alyssa was, not that it represented how far she had come since her powers appeared.

Before she had a chance to really dwell on that thought, Courtney added, “And you know how Alaska always straightens her hair using her powers? That wasn't easy for her to learn either. I can't tell you how many times she burnt herself or her hair off.”

Fully laughing at the memory, Courtney choked out, “She accidentally gave herself these horrible _bangs_ the one time cause she had to cut away a section that had been burnt to a crisp!”

Willam was smiling along with her as she tried to picture that mental image yet Courtney quickly worked herself around back to her main focus of the stories, “But the point is they learned and so will you. You just need to give it time...and practice.”

Nodding, Willam admitted to herself that she’d always known it would probably come to this. She had hoped it would just come naturally but it seems that’s hardly the case for anyone. Taking one more cautious step closer to Courtney, so much that their knees grazed against each other now, she informed her friend with absolute resolution that she’d take Alaska up on the offer for additional training the next moment they saw each other.

With that understanding, Courtney flashed her a huge smile as the pair’s hearts raced at equal speeds. It felt like there was still something left that they needed to talk about but that was a topic for another day. It already took so much strength for Willam to confess one of her deepest secrets, it wouldn’t have been fair to ask for anything more at this point. Pulling away with some degree of reluctance, Courtney picked up the forgotten watering can and handed it back to Willam. With a slight smirk, she informed the fire elemental that despite that little incident, she was not excused from helping out in the greenhouse now nor in the future. Rolling her eyes, Willam accepted her fate with a slight grin and pushed Courtney gently out of the way as she went to refill the can in the sink.

From that day on Willam made it a point to devote a certain amount of time each week to training with Alaska. Their extracurricular sessions were delayed as Alaska served out her detention sentence following her brawl with Sharon but to Willam’s secret relief, there seemed to be no remaining animosity between the two. In fact, within just a few weeks she was shocked to find the two nearly inseparable now and almost always holding hands or touching each other in some fashion. It came as little surprise later on when they announced they had begun dating.

Willam had seen the first inklings of the shift in their relationship long before Courtney had but she felt it wasn’t her place to mention it until the pair made the formal announcement themselves. Once they finally told their friends the news, Willam pulled them aside afterwards and congratulated them quietly. Alaska of course pulled her into a hug straightaway but in the midst of that Sharon caught her eye and motioned knowingly towards Courtney. Again cheeks flared but Willam was becoming used to that.

In response to Sharon's unspoken question, she simply flipped off the water elemental and mouthed out _'Later'_ as the blonde's eyes rolled.

And Willam had little doubt that they wouldn't talk about it at some point but it just hadn't felt right to bring up the topic yet. Sure, their little moment in the greenhouse had been somewhat intimate but that didn't necessarily mean that Courtney returned her affections. She was almost certain that Courtney had some idea as to how she felt but her own thoughts on the situation had yet to be spoken.

Even still, it was undeniable that something had changed since Willam's confession. They danced around the subject for weeks but their behavior with one another was an entirely different story. Every day they seemed to try and push the boundaries of their friendship a little further with the silent hope that one of them would finally gain the courage to speak up. Whether it was stolen kisses to the cheek when no one else was looking, fingertips running softly over exposed skin, or even subtly holding hands as most of their friends pretended not to notice. All of it built up until their fondness for each was evident to everyone but them.

Sharon was about the only one who would dare to comment on it and more than once the teasing would break Willam's self control, which had shown remarkable improvement over the last few weeks. The older blonde seemed to be making it a game to see how far she could push Willam until a little ball of fire or shower of sparks would appear. Of course the quickest way for her to win this battle of wills was if Courtney herself happened to be around as well, which often happened during their lunch hour.

A particular day had Willam holding out quite admirably, only 15 more minutes and she'd have made it through the entire hour. Unfortunately, there was a slight brush of Courtney's fingers against her inner thigh as she tried to search for a hand to hold under the table and like a hawk going in for the kill, Sharon snatched up the opportunity to point out the light blush with absolutely no mercy. Had Willam not been holding a napkin with her free hand she might have escaped that lunch period unscathed. But Sharon's targeted teasing once again took its toll and Willam was beginning to feel on edge.

In front of their entire group of friends and likely a number of other students listening in, Sharon loudly began recounting a little incident she and Alaska had accidentally walked in on earlier that week. Something about catching the two nearly in the midst of making out in Willam and Alaska's shared room that not even a swift kick to Sharon's shin could silence or even pause. Willam huffed out in an embarrassed annoyance and tried to ignore Sharon's bathering but unfortunately the very flammable napkin she still held in her hand caught on fire almost immediately after a small spark escaped her fingertips.

In just a second Willam dropped the object onto the table but beyond that she had no clue what to do to put out the small fire was rapidly growing. Sharon however responded quickly and sent her soda flying towards the base of the flames, which worked to extinguish the fire but also to soak Willam's top and skirt in the process. Understandably, she was less than happy to find her clothes suddenly drenched once again.

Though Sharon soon recalled the soda back to its container, Willam was quick to point out rather irritably that her clothes were still sticky despite being dry once more.

Happily, Sharon suggested dumping water on her, a comment earning her a sharp jab in the ribs from her girlfriend's elbow, but Willam steadfastly refused the offer with a harsh glare to boot. As the blonde smile away with mock innocence, Courtney piped up with, “C'mon, Bill, let's just head back to the dorms and get you a change of clothes.  We shouldn't be too late for classes if we hurry."

With that, Willam pushed herself out of her chair and promptly flipped off Sharon prior to rushing off with Courtney in the direction of the nearest exit. Unfortunately, that particular door happened to be in direct view of the main office and the pair had barely made it 10 feet down the pathway before Michelle came rushing out after them.

"Where do you two think you're going?" she barked out as she sprinted up to them.

Blinking up in innocence at the administrator, Courtney replied as charmingly as she could, "Willam needs to change her clothes. There was-"

"Save it," Michelle interrupted, "I don't really care. You two need to go back inside _now._ "

"But-"

"There's only 10 minutes of lunch left and even _if_ you were allowed to leave the school during that time, which you're _not,_ you wouldn't make it back in time."

Her tone left it clear she was not in the mood to argue but nevertheless, that didn't stop Willam from trying.

"But I need-"

"No," Michelle cut her off in a firm tone. "If you need to change outfits, wear your gym uniform."

"What?!?" Willam squawked out in disbelief and indignation.

"You heard me," the second in command stated as her arms crossed over her chest and she jutted her head towards the building. "Now get back inside."

Willam was prepared to keep arguing, even if it took the rest of the afternoon, but Courtney had a fallback plan in mind. Wrapping her hand around Willam she tugged along the greatly resisting body back towards the school.

In a hushed tone, too soft for the glaring administrator to hear as she studiously watched them retreat, Courtney mentioned, "I've got another idea. Let's find Adore. _She'll_ be able to get your clothes."


End file.
